HUMBOLDT — From start to finish, the Cubs of Humboldt High never trailed Tuesday night and beat Cherryvale High’s Chargers 66-41.
Humboldt got out to a hot start, shooting well from the outside and playing tough defense, said David Taylor, Cubs head coach.
A six-point lead, 16-10, to start the second period quickly bloated to a double digit lead for the Cubs. The Chargers found themselves down 27-16 at the break.
Despite a surge of offense for Cherryvale in the third period — the Chargers matched their total first half point production, 16, in the period — the Cubs’ bigs were too much to handle. Humboldt had a 37 to 11 edge on the boards.
Taylor credited a heightened intensity by his team on both ends of the court for the dominant performance.
“Tonight was the first night I’ve seen two or three of our guys get gassed at the same time,” Taylor said. “If you’re putting forth maximum effort, you shouldn’t be able to play the entire game without a sub and I saw that tonight.”
Taking an 18-point advantage into the final period, the Cubs didn’t let up and expanded their lead to 25 as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Humboldt’s Noah Thornbrugh poured in 19 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, handed out four assists and made two blocks. Blake Crawford had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Tanner McNutt chipped in 12 points of his own and was responsible for two of the Cubs’ five steals.
“Hopefully we’re starting to play our best basketball,” Taylor said.
Leading scorer for the Chargers was Trent Loganbill with 15 points.
Humboldt (16-11-23-16—66) (FG/3-pt): Vanatta 0-2-1-2, McNutt 2/2-2-1-12, H. Murrow 2-1-0-5, Whitcomb 0-1-4-1, A. Murrow 1-0-0-2, Crawford 8-0-3-16, Johnson 3/1-0-9-9, Rutledge 0-0-1-0, Thornbrugh 9-1-3-19. TOTALS: 25/3-7-16-66.
Cherryvale (10-6-16-9—41): Loganbill 6-3-1-15, Anderson 0-3-1-3, Trim 2-0-1-4, Robertson 2-0-3-4, Thornton 2-2-3-6, O’Brien 4-1-4-9, Robertson 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 16-9-14-41.
