HUMBOLDT — David Taylor’s message each day to his Humboldt High players has been simple.
“We’ve been emphasizing the standard,” he said. “We want to play to a standard, and not just play to what we think is OK.”
Judging by their first two games this season, Humboldt’s standard is sky high.
The Cubs triggered a running clock for the second straight game, courtesy of having a lead in excess of 30 points by the start of the fourth quarter.
Tuesday’s 62-27 win over Uniontown in the opening round of the Humboldt Preseason Tournament left Taylor pleased, but with the understanding that even a higher standard is needed.
“It’s still early, and we need to keep getting better and better,” he said. “But I was pretty pleased.”
The Cubs blitzed their way to an early 24-8 lead before foul trouble soon sent starting post players Sam Hull and Colden Cook to the bench.
All that did was trigger a 17-4 second-quarter run, with bench players Logan Page, Mateo Miller and Avery Works taking the reins. They accounted for 14 of Humboldt’s 17 second-quarter points as the lead swelled to 41-16 at halftime.
A rested Hull and Cook took back over inside in the third quarter as Humboldt’s lead grew to 55-21 after three.
“We were a little sloppy offensively in the first half,” Taylor said.
But a quick timeout, and some not-so-gentle encouragement to consider the “we” instead of “me,” soon had the players finding their groove.
“If you noticed, when they got in that frame of mind, we were kind of scoring at will,” Taylor said. “We turned up the pressure defensively and did a nice job of getting out and running.”
Cook wound up with 18 points to lead Humboldt, followed by Hull’s 11. Page wound up with nine. Ten Cub players wound up scoring.
The biggest cheers — aside from a pair of thunderous Hull dunks — were reserved for the end of the game.
Senior reserve Nathan Swogar scored on back-to-back possessions, drawing a raucous reception from his teammates and the rest of the Humboldt faithful.
“Everybody did a good job out there,” Taylor said.
