HUMBOLDT — Both of Humboldt High’s boys and girls teams got off to quick starts in their respective midseason tournament games against St. Paul Thursday.
While the Cubs were able to keep their torrid pace through the second and third quarters, the Lady Cubs weren’t as fortunate.
Humboldt’s boys forced a running clock through the fourth quarter, courtesy of their 30-point lead, and cruised home with a 55-29 win.
The girls saw their lead dissipate through a cold fourth quarter, falling to St. Paul, 35-28.
The truncated round-robin tournament, brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, was to wrap up Friday for Humboldt with games in Iola. (See Monday’s Register for results, or visit www.iolaregister.com.)
“Our transition game really helped us,” Humboldt boys head coach David Taylor said. “When we got out in transition, it made a big difference, of course.”
The Cubs lead 17-8 after one quarter, then turned on the jets in the second, outscoring St. Paul 16-3 to take a 33-11 halftime lead.
St. Paul had no answers after intermission either as Humboldt stretched its margin to 49-19 after three.
“We were all pretty consistent,” Taylor said. “Gavin (Page) had a solid game, he looked a lot more comfortable out there as they got out and ran. Drew (Wilhite) and Levi (McGowen) ran hard. Trey (Sommer) got in some early foul trouble, but he came back in and played well.”
Wilhite shared high-scoring honors with Kaiden Barnett with 12 points apiece for the Cubs. Wilhite also contributed five assists, while Barnett pulled down nine rebounds. Page scored 10 points and dished out three assists. McGowen notched eight points and nine boards. Sommer had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Payton Norris scored nine to lead St. Paul
THE LADY Cubs started off on the right foot, outscoring St. Paul 8-2 in the first quarter.
They maintained that margin until late in the third quarter, when the Indians drilled three straight 3-pointers to take a 27-26 lead.
Humboldt had no answers down the stretch, scoring its only two points in the fourth quarter on a pair of Jessica Myers free throws. St. Paul ended the game on a 17-3 run.
“We battled for three quarters really hard,” Lady Cub head coach Aubrey Jones said. “I think we got tired, and started to lose a little bit of our mental toughness. We’ll work on getting that back for (Friday.)”
