HUMBODLT — Humboldt head coach Dave Taylor guessed after his team’s 42-33 grind-it-out victory over Central Heights on Friday that his team had shot less than 25 percent from the field.
He was close but just a tad pessimistic, as most coaches are. The Cubs shot 31 percent but still seemed in control throughout the duration of the game.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well at all,” Taylor said. “And it’s not that we were taking bad shots, we just missed a ton of bunnies. I really don’t know what to say. We had good effort and energy. There are just nights where that happens.”
Central Heights led early before Humboldt took the lead. The Cubs were able to keep the Vikings at arms-distance for the majority of the game, even leading by double-digits throughout parts of the second half.
Humboldt held Central Heights to 13 first-half points and if it wasn’t for a rough stretch in the fourth quarter, they probably wouldn’t have allowed the Vikings to break 30.
“I thought we defended well,” Taylor said. “Thirteen points at the half, 33 at the end of the game. That’s where we won it. That and rebounding. When you aren’t hitting shots, that’s what you’ve got to do if you want to win.”
That “rough stretch” saw Central Heights go on a run and cut the Cub lead to four with 4:23 left in the game. But some key takeaways led to some easy buckets and before you knew it, the Cubs’ lead was 10 again with 25 seconds to play.
“When they whittled back in, we started to take some real unadvised shots,” Taylor said. “But then we got a couple of run-outs for layups and that was fortunate and then we ran offense. But our defense spurred that 8-0 run.”
Senior Tucker Hurst had 17 points in the win followed right behind by sophomore Conor Haviland who had 11.
The win is the Cubs fourth in-a-row and moves the Cubs to 13-6. They’ll have a chance to get revenge against a Cherryvale team that beat them 61-54 on the road in January before opening up sub-state play on Friday.
Heading into the postseason, Taylor has liked what he’s seen from his team.
“I feel better about the team’s climate,” Taylor said. “The way we’ve won the last couple of games has been good for us. We know that if we don’t play well, we will lose. I think it will be a relief when we get to sub-state week. Now, will we make a serious run? I don’t know. Anything can happen.”
Humboldt (11-11-8-12—42) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Hurst 7/0-3-2-17, Haviland 2/2-1-4-11, Gillespie 2/0-0-1-4, Barker 0/1-0-0-3, Daniels 1/0-1-2-3, Coronado 1/0-0-0-2, Seufert 0/0-1-1-1, Murrow 0/0-1-1-1. TOTALS: 13/3-7-11-42.
Central Heights (7-6-7-13—33) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Sommer 3/0-3-2-9, Coffman 4/0-0-0-8, Burroughs 1/1-0-4-5, Brotherton 1/1-5-5, Bowlher 0/1-0-3-3, McClondon 0/1-2-3, Meyer 0/0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 10/3-4-16-33.
PICTURE — Senior Lance Daniels goes for a layup in the Cubs’ 42-33 win over Central Heights on Friday. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
