HUMBOLDT — Humboldt High’s Cubs proved once again that their best offense often stems from their defense.
Humboldt pressured visiting Erie into a cacophony of early mistakes, which in turn became a series of transition buckets.
By the time the dust settled from the lopsided first quarter, Humboldt was sitting atop a 19-2 lead.
The Cubs couldn’t keep up that pace over the final three quarters — playing three games in four days may have finally caught up with the players — but they still had things well in control of their 56-29 win.
The victory caps Humboldt’s 3-0 romp through the Humboldt-Emprise Bank Preseason tournament and gives the Cubs a 4-0 mark on the season.
The Cubs (4-0) hosted Eureka Thursday and will pay a visit to Neodesha Thursday to wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule.
“We were able to pressure them full -court in the first quarter,” Cub head coach David Taylor said. “I think we ran out of gas a little bit, and so we tried to run some half-court offense to get our legs back.”
The Red Devils were able to make a small dent in Humboldt’s lead in the second quarter, closing to 23-13 at the break, before Humboldt had another kick after halftime.
A 17-7 run pushed the Cubs back to a 40-20 lead after three.
Mason Sterling scored 13 points with seven rebounds; Colden Cook and Tre Franklin added 12 each. Cook led with eight rebounds. Franklin and Sterling both had four steals.
Nick Haviland’s 10 points paced Erie.
Erie (2-11-7-9—29)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Hughes 1/2 0 1 8
Richenberg 3 0 2 6
Duff 1 0 3 2
Seibel 0/1 0 0 3
Haviland 0/3 1 2 10
Brown 0 0 3 0
Totals 5/6 1 11 29
Humboldt (19-4-17-16—56)
Franklin 2/2 2 4 12
Stering 4/1 2 0 13
Ellis 3 0 1 6
Gomez 1/1 1 0 6
Newman 1 0 0 2
Works 0 0 2 0
Hart 1/1 0 0 5
Cook 6 0 1 12
Totals 18/5 5 8 56
