HUMBOLDT- A poor night of ball handling led to Humboldt High’s demise Friday night as the Cubs lost a tight basketball game to Burlington High’s Wildcats, 59-53.
The Cubs found themselves down by 10 points early in the first quarter. Turnovers were to blame, said Cubs head coach David Taylor.
“We weren’t as strong with the ball as I thought we needed to be,” he said, referring to the teams 13 turnovers. “It seemed like more. Some of them were unforced.”
But the now 3-2 Cubs didn’t give up, battled back and cut the deficit in half by the mid-match break. Burlington led 27-22 at halftime.
The Cubs kept up the intensity to open the second half, manufacturing an 11-9 third quarter advantage, cutting the Wildcat lead to three to start the final period.
“The kids battled back and created some opportunities for us,” he said.
In the end, Cubs’ turnovers and solid free throw shooting by the Wildcats did Humboldt in.
“The kids were prepared we just made some miscues at inopportune times,” he said, adding that Burlington went 20-33 from the charity stripe down the stretch and “did a good job of making make their free throws at the end.”
In the losing effort, Cubs’ Noah Thornbrugh had a game-high 19 points, and his seven rebounds tied teammate Tanner McNutt for the team high.
McNutt and Hunter Murrow each had 11 points for the Cubs.
Leading scorers for the Wildcats were Korbin Ratzloff with 16 and Blake Thomsen with 15.
In junior varsity play, Humboldt fell to the Wildcats 43-33. In C-team play, the Cubs came out with a win, 56-33.
Humboldt High’s Lady Cubs lost 86-26 to Burlington High’s Wildcat girls. There was no report called in on the girls’ game.
Humboldt’s teams play at Caney Valley High on Tuesday to finish up before Christmas.
Humboldt (8-14-11-20-53) (FG/3-pt): Vanatta 0-2-3-2, McNutt 2/1-4-5-11, Murrow 2/1-4-0-11, Whitcomb 1-2-4-4, Crawford 0-0-3-0, Johnson 3-0-5-6, Thornbrugh 8-3-3-19. TOTALS: 16/2-15-23-53.
Burlington (14-13-9-23-59): Redding 0/1-2-4-5, Mahoney 0-0-3-0, Shedd 0-5-4-5, Shell 1/2-0-4-8, Ratzloff 3/2-4-2-16, Foster 1-2-3-4, Schepers 3-0-2-6, Carassco 0-0-1-0, Thomsen 4-7-4-15. TOTALS: 12/5-20-27-59.
