The Kewanee boys basketball team entered conference play Tuesday night and beat host Sterling Newman, 73-52.
In their last few outings, the Boilers seem to be finding their range on the perimeter. Colson Welgat, in particular, was dialed in from beyond the arc. The junior guard made six three-pointers enroute to scoring a career high 22 points on the night.
Blaise Lewis made three long bombs and scored nine points in the win. In all, the Boilers connected on 11 three-pointers.
Although the final score would indicate a runaway win, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Kewanee held an 18-11 lead after the first quarter, but the Comets outscored the Boilers 21-17 in the second quarter, giving Kewanee a slim 35-32 lead at the break.
“The first half I felt like we left some points off the score board with missed layups and free throws. I also think we gave them some easy opportunities with some unforced turnovers,” said Kewanee Coach Matt Clark.
“Leading by three at half, we felt like it could have been more but give credit to Coach Sharp, he always has his kids prepared and they executed their 1-3-1 defense well in the first half,” Clark added.
Lucas Simpson played a big role in keeping Newman close in the first half. He scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the early going. Evan Bushman added 11 points on the night.
Kewanee senior Braden Clark scored nine in the first half and added nine more in the second half for his 18 point effort.
The Boilers steadily pulled away from the Comets in the second half, outscoring them 38-20 (18-10 and 20-10).
“I told our guys the last two practices that I thought we could wear them down with our press and half court man defense and that proved to be the case in the second half,” noted Clark.
“We backed the press off and focused on our half court man in the second half which limited Newman’s transition points and made them earn baskets in the half court.”
The Boilers are now 4-3 on the season and 1-0 in TRAC-East play. Newman is also 4-3 overall, but falls to 0-2 in TRAC-East action.
Freshmen
The freshman boys team defeated Sterling Newman, 40-15. Leading scorers for Kewanee were Dayvon Robinson with 12 points and Leeam Slover with 11. The freshmen are now 3-2 on the season.
Sophomores
The Riveters suffered a 47-42 overtime loss to Sterling Newman. Top scorers for the Boilers were Josh DeWante with 20 points and Griffin Hicks added 14 on the night.
The Riveters are 6-4 on the season.
