HUMBOLDT — Nathan Whitcomb has become comfortable in his role as “a distributor” of the basketball for Humboldt High’s Cubs this season.
So when Eureka High’s Tornadoes “challenged” Whitcomb to shoot the basketball in Tuesday night’s 2012 Kansas Class 3A Substate opener, he stepped up for his team.
“They challenged him to shoot it by limiting Tanner (McNutt) and Noah (Thornbrugh). Nathan has done a good job for us as a distributor of the ball this season,” said David Taylor, Humboldt head coach, after the Cubs win 47-24 at home.
Whitcomb fired in 13 points. He led the Cubs in rebounding with seven plus dished out five assists.
“We won the game. Eureka played a delay style of game. Our guys did a good job of not getting frustrated by that,” Taylor said.
With the victory, the Cubs advance to the semifinal round Thursday at tournament host Fredonia. The Cubs play Wellsville, which upended third-seeded Bur-lington 57-49 Tuesday.
On the other side of the bracket Tuesday, top-seed Central Heights beat Fredonia 75-29 and Neodesha ousted West Franklin 51-48.
Winners of Thursday’s semifinals will play for the substate championship Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Fredonia High School. On the line is a berth in the Class 3A state basketball tournament next week.
Humboldt led 4-2 after one quarter and reached a 15-9 advantage at halftime. The Cubs began to pull away with a 14-9 run in the third quarter. They finished the game on an 18-6 surge.
Thornbrugh led all scorers with 17 points for the Cubs. He had two steals and one blocked shot.
Humboldt shot 49 percent, 18 of 37, from the field. The Cubs sank 7 of 13 free throw attempts. They had only three turnovers in the game.
DaQota Williams scored nine points and Hunter Moore had eight points to lead Eureka.
Humboldt (4-11-14-18—47) (FG/-3-pt): Vanatta 0/1-2-0-5, McNutt 2/1-0-1-7, Whitcomb 4/1-2-1-13, Crawford 1-0-2-2, Johnson 0/1-0-0-3, Thornbrugh 7-3-2-17. TOTALS: 14/4-7-6-47.
Eureka (2-7-9-6—24) (FG/3-pt): Pitko 0/1-0-1-3, Moore 3-2-2-8, Moots 2-0-2-4, Hayes 0-0-1-0, Williams 4-1-1-9. TOTALS: 9/1-3-7-24.
