CANEY — The Humboldt High Cubs had to “gut it out” Friday night against the Caney Valley Bullpups, according to head coach David Taylor.
He said it may not have been a bad thing.
Taylor said he saw things that needed to be worked on, albeit things that were not serious enough to prevent a win for the Cubs. They came out on top over the Bullpups, 64-41 in Caney.
“We didn’t establish an inside game early,” Taylor said. “We pride ourselves on being ‘one shot and out,’ and we didn’t do that.”
The first half had Humboldt on top 27-19.
Momentum began to turn in the Cubs’ favor in the beginning of the second half. A strong 17-point third quarter poised them to run the score up and out of the Bullpups’ reach. Humboldt outscored Caney Valley 27-22 in the second half.
Taylor said the Cubs continued their habit of playing “unselfish basketball” — a recurring theme for the Cubs’ perfect season thus far.
Noah Thornbrugh led the scoring with 21 points, followed by Nathan Whitcomb with 17. Tanner McNutt had nine and Hunter Murrow dropped eight. Trey Johnson and McNutt led in assists with four and Murrow had four steals. Thornbrugh pulled down eight boards and had one block.
As a team, the Cubs went 10 for 20 on free throws (50 percent), and hit 25 of 33 from the field (76 percent).
For the first time in several weeks, Taylor said the Cubs were out-rebounded by the Bullpups, 22-18 in the game. He said this was evident of their first-half defensive performance.
“I was disappointed in our defense for the first half,” Taylor said.
However, he believes a hard-fought victory is a good way to measure themselves on their season and he is liking what he sees.
“You can’t be upset when you win by that margin,” Taylor said. “But, we still strive for perfection, you can’t expect anything less.”
The JV squad came up with a victory as well, 39-30 over the Bullpups’ JV. Kason Siemens and Alex Murrow led Humboldt with 10 points each. The C team won a two-quarter contest, 27-4.
Humboldt (19-8-17-20—64)
Caney Valley (10-9-11-11—41)
Humboldt (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): McNutt 1/1-4-2-9, Murrow 3-2-1-8, Whitcomb 8-1-2-17, Crawford 2-0-3-4, Johnson 1/1-0-5-5, Thornbrugh 6/2-3-3-21. TOTALS: 21/4-10-16-64.
Caney Valley (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Ja. Matthews 3-0-3-6, Young 0-0-4-0, Hawkins 0-0-2-0, McIntosh 7/2-2-3-22, Estes 0-0-4-0, Jo. Matthews 6-1-5-13. TOTALS: 16/2-3-21-41.
Humboldt downs Caney Valley
