Cubs get work done early to defeat Devils

HUMBOLDT – Humboldt High’s Cubs made things difficult on and off the basketball court Friday night.
They dominated Erie High’s Red Devils in the first quarter to the tune of 24-6. Humboldt posted a 65-47 victory.
In doing so, the Cubs made it difficult to determine the champion of Humboldt High’s Second Annual Emprise Bank Basketball Tournament. The Cubs, Crest High’s Lancers and Uniontown High’s Eagles are both 2-1 in the round-robin event.
“They’re working on it now but probably won’t know for sure until Monday,” said David Taylor, Cubs’ head coach.
“I told our kids that every team was leg weary. If we get after it in the first half, we can control the game. They were very focused to open the game.”
The Cubs led 43-22 at the break. Taylor said the Cubs “lost focus” in the second half and allowed a scrappy Erie team to make a run.
The Red Devils outscored the Cubs 17-10 in the third period. Humboldt ended up with a 12-8 scoring edge in the fourth.
Noah Thornbrugh was a force inside for the Cubs. The 6-6 junior scored 27 points, including a 5 of 6 stint at the free-throw line and cleared 11 rebounds. He also had two blocked shots.
Tanner McNutt also blocked two shots plus scored 15 points and dished out five assists. Blake Crawford scored 10 points.
Trey Johnson had seven rebounds, four steals and four assists.
“We played pretty good defense in the first half. We had good shot selection and got out and ran to score in transition,” Taylor said.
The Cubs shot at a 46-percent clip (24 of 52) from the field. They sank 14 of 20 free throw tosses.
Erie got 19 points from Kyle Spielbusch. The Red Devils went 14 of 21 from the line.
Humboldt (3-1) is idle Tuesday. Next Friday the Cubs jump back into Tri-Valley League play at Burlington.
In the final junior varsity game of the tournament, Humboldt beat Erie 58-42. Caleb D’Armond scored 15 points for the Cubs and Jacob Carpenter had 11.
Humboldt (24-19-10-12-65) (FG/3-pt): C. Vanatta 1/1-2-3-7, McNutt 2/2-5-2-15, Boring 0-0-1-0 Whitcomb 0-0-5-0, A. Murrow 0-0-1-0, Crawford 5-0-4-10, Johnson 2-2-3-6, Thornbrugh 11-5-1-27. TOTALS: 21/3-14-20-65.
Erie (6-16-17-8-47) (FG/3-pt): K. Page 0/2-0-2-6, Dozier 2-1-3-5, Hartzell 0-4-3-4, Lehenbauer 0-0-2-0, G. Page 0-1-0-1, Marquardt 3-2-5-8, Spielbusch 5/1-6-3-19, Murphy 2-0-2-4. TOTALS: 12/3-14-20-47.