Belle Plaine’s boys’ basketball squad had a rough first month of the season, but closed out the 2009 portion of the schedule on a positive note, handing Tri-County a 66-58 defeat just before the break.
Coach Justin Northrop’s squad entered the break with a 2-6 record. After dropping the first four of the season, the Plainsmen beat English Valleys and then dropped two more contests before the win over Tri-County.
At Tri-County, the Plainsmen trailed after the first quarter, 19-13 and at the half, 33-24. But they came on strong in the second half, cutting the margin to 47-44 before scoring 22 points in the last quarter for the victory.
Ben Ehlen led the Plainsman attack with 21 points. He also had three assists. Chris Janss had 19 points, six rebounds, five steals and a block. Keegan DeMeulenaere finished with seven points, four rebounds three assists and two steals. Seivon Stewart had seven points and eight rebounds. Kyle Janss had five points, two rebounds and five steals. Cooper Northrop had five points, three rebounds and three steals. John Long had two points and two assists.
Tri-County had four players in double figure scoring. But the Plainsmen held the advantage at the free throw line, hitting 16 of 27 attempts, compared to just seven of 11 for the home team.
Belle Plaine hit 24 of 42 shots from the field, including two of four three-point attempts. Tri-County hit on 23 of 53 field goal attempts, including five of 11 three-point tries.
Keota and BGM lead the SICL Conference with undefeated marks at the holiday break. They are followed by Montezuma, HLV, Lynnville-Sully and the Plainsmen.
Belle Plaine gets back into action next week at Iowa Valley on Monday and at HLV on Friday.