Holden Boys Basketball Team Cruises Past Concordia

 

 

Playing the first basketball game on the newly refurbished court in the Holden High School gym, the Holden boys basketball team recorded a win over Concordia by the final score of 64-40 on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

Eight Holden players contributed points in the win as the Eagles held a lead in the contest all except for the early minutes of the game.
Holden opened up an 18-10 advantage after a quarter of play and took a 32-23 lead into the halftime locker room.

The Eagles put the game away in the fourth quarter by posting a 17-3 scoring advantage as Holden used a rebound advantage and timely defensive steals throughout the contest to defeat the Orioles.

“After the game, they were asking about rebounds, and that’s something that we’ve been talking about a lot,” said Holden boys basketball coach Nathan Martin. “They were fighting with each other on who had more rebounds, so that’s something good. We tell them boxing out is a choice. You don’t have to be a really good basketball player to choose to box out, and tonight we did it for the most part.”

Defensive pressure by the Eagles helped Holden find its big advantage in the final quarter.

“That’s something we’re trying to change a little bit this year, trying to get up and guard people a little bit more,” said coach Martin. “Today we did a decent job of it, stopping the ball early.”

After the Orioles opened the game with a two-point basket, Eagle senior guard Kasyn Tevis drained a three-point basket for Holden’s first lead of the game.

Concordia regained the lead on its second bucket of the game before Holden posted a 15-8 advantage the remainder of the frame. Brody Bockover, Wade VanMeter, and Kolby Hill displayed a 6-0 scoring run early to give Holden the lead for good.

Hill and Bockover each scored 20 points to lead the team in scoring on the night.

“With these guys we talked about it after yesterday, we talked about being more aggressive,” said coach Martin as he stood with Hill and Bockover in the gym after the win. “We talked about needing these guys to be more aggressive.”

Hill put up five points in the first quarter, eight points in the second stanza, and seven in the third to find his total as Hill returns this season after leading the Eagles in scoring last year as a sophomore.

“We’re all just doing whatever we can to help the team,” said Hill after the game. “I feel like we have a deep bench. I think everybody can come in there and provide at different parts of the game. Everybody had their own strengths, and I think we all work well together. In the locker room we’re playing music, guys are pumping each other up, it’s just a way better environment and atmosphere to be in for basketball.”

Bockover contributed points in each quarter with five in the first, three in the second, six in the third, and six in the fourth.
“Brody had a big turnaround from yesterday,” said coach Martin in reference to Holden’s loss at Sherwood the night before. “We talked a bunch before the game because yesterday I don’t know how many shots he took, but it was under 10. Both of these guys did a good job of finding their shots tonight, too, and that came from everybody else too, everybody else being spaced, doing the little things that we talk about every day.”

Bockover connected on all eight of his free throw attempts in the final two quarters as he helped Holden seal the win.

“I’m trying to be a leader, you know build up my teammates, and I think the scoring is a lead by example kind of thing,” said Bockover. “We’re trying to build a basketball culture here, so when we’ve got all these players that rebound it makes it way easier for me and Kolby to do our job. With everyone buying in from day one, boxing out, doing the little things that matter, it helps me and Kolby score. I think it’s just like Martin said about being a little bit more aggressive because last game I didn’t take too many shots, but now I’m finding my rhythm and getting stuff to go in.”

Following Hill and Bockover’s team-high 20 points apiece were VanMeter with 9 points, Rett Hankins and Tevis with 5 points each, Trace Angell and Gavin Kitscher with 2 points each, and Evan Killion with 1 point.

Eagles JV Note… The Holden boys JV team defeated the Concordia boys JV team by the final score of 53-21. For Holden, Truman Wamsley scored 13 points, Destry Powell scored 12 points, Brayden Taylor scored 9 points, Gavin Kitscher scored 8 points, Tucker Wamsley scored 6 points, Cole Thomas scored 3 points, and Collin Cooper scored 2 points.

Cougars Overcome Holden Lead
Playing at Crest Ridge High School on Friday, Dec. 6, the Holden boys basketball team fell to the Cougars by the final score of 53-48.

Holden held a 27-23 lead at halftime before the Cougars found a 30-21 scoring advantage in the second half.

“We were winning most of the game,” said Holden boys basketball coach Nathan Martin. “Wade, Kasyn and Evan did a good job trying to slow their big guy (Wyatt Ducos) down. Kolby had 21 points with 19 in the first half, and Brody had 15. We did some good things and were in a spot to have a chance at the end.”

Along with Kolby Hill and Brody Bockover’s 36 combined points for Holden, Rett Hankins scored 5 points, Evan Killion scored 4 points, and Kasyn Tevis scored 3 points.

Following the game at Crest Ridge, the Holden boys basketball team held a record of 1-2 with no conference games played.

The Holden boys basketball team plays next at Knob Noster this Friday, Dec. 13, with a C team game beginning at 5 p.m. JV and varsity games follow the C game.