Belle Plaine Coach Justin Northrop offered this update on his boys’ basketball team after a week in which it won one of three games:
“This week we finally got to play a few home games and got one of three. On Monday we faced English Valley. The boys started out a little slow and it was a little too close at halftime. In the second half we put a couple of nice runs together and got the much needed victory by 18. Chris Janss once again led us in scoring with 16, followed by Ben Ehlen with 14. Seivon Steward finally got going and added nine. Keegan DeMeulenare led us with 11 boards followed by Chris Janss with nine. Seivon added a six and played his best game of the year. Seivon is such a good athlete that needed the confidence gained in this game. The guys needed this victory in such a bad way going into the rest of the week.
“On Tuesday Lynnville Sully came to town in a “TALL” order. No one in the conference can match their size inside and we tried to change the game up on them. Shortening the game was our chance to keep it close and spread them out. It worked well in the first half and we kept it close until they had a little run in at the end of the second quarter. They are very well coached and were patient with us and used their size on the offense end to follow up misses.
“The guys really bought into what we were doing and sacrificed personally to try to get the upset. Chris Janss has been very consistent throughout the first part of the season and teams are starting to be aware of him. Although Sully had some big guys inside, Chris again led us with 13 points followed by Ben Ehlen with 11. Keegan DeMeulenare played a great game and got nine points. Seivon Steward led us on the boards with seven followed by Keegan DeMeulenare and Chris Janss with six and five respectively. John Long and Ben Ehlen played a great game defensively pestering guys on the perimeter and held their leading scorer 11 under his average. The Hawks held on for a 56-46 win.
“It did not get any easier when Friday rolled around and Keota came to Belle Plaine. They returned four starters from last year’s SICL champion squad. Once again matching up with them was a little problem. We came out aggressive on defense and caused them some problems. We again tried to shorten the game some and it paid off in the first half.
“We trailed Keota by six at the half and the boys were playing very inspired basketball. The first three minutes of the second half was the telling story for the rest of the game. Keota came out and shot the ball very well and put a lot of pressure defensively on us. We were not ready and Keota can score in bunches.
“Even though the final score was not in our favor, 66-41, I know the guys feel that they can play with them. Ben Ehlen led us with 17 points followed by Keegan DeMeulenare with 11. This was Ben’s best game of the year as far as scoring points added with 3 assists and four turnovers.
“We travel to Tri-County on Monday and then enter the Christmas break. We will also go to Benton Community to have a holiday scrimmage with Benton, Mt Vernon, and Center Point on the second. This is always nice to knock off a little dust and get ready for a demanding January.
“We must get some wins to help us in our district seeding for the state tournament. I see much improvement in different areas. Even though our record is not where we want it to be the guys attitude it staying upbeat and they know as well as the coaches that things will get better. No one can question their effort and desire on the court. We just need to put some things together and get some wins. Happy Holidays!”