AGWSR gets big-time win over Meskwaki to end regular season

ACKLEY — AGWSR’s boys’ basketball team has had its share of ups and downs this season, but the regular-season finale was a key victory and ended it on a three-game win streak before the Cougars start district play.

Coach Riley Schipper’s team took a 45-41 win over a Meskwaki Settlement team that boasted a 16-3 record coming in.

“We talked about the pace and what we needed to do to win,” Schipper said. “Tonight was the best we’ve executed a game-plan. We really valued the basketball, limited them to one shot and that was what we need to win.

“Tonight, it was against a really good team and that was really good for us to play our best basketball at the end of the year getting ready for the tournaments.”

A tight game throughout, AGWSR had its biggest lead of the game at seven on a pair of Tanner Weichers free throws with five seconds left. A three-pointer at the buzzer provided the final difference.

“We talked about keeping them out of the lane, when they hit a couple in the lane, they are hard to stop,” Schipper said. “We did a good job of stopping the ball, even when they were in transition. We didn’t foul them in transition, we made them make a tough lay-up, when they missed it, we got the rebound. That is something we talked about, just play good solid defense and tonight, I thought we did.”

Luke Starr led all scorers with 19 points, driving in and getting fouled by the Warriors while going 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the second half.

“They were playing really tight man-to-man defense, so I tried some of my jump shots and they were hacking me,” Starr said, “so I started driving and hit free throws, so it kind of worked out.”

Weichers added 13 points for the Cougars, adding six rebounds.

Meskwaki’s Taurice Grant and Victor Balderas, who average 15.7 and 15 points per game, respectively, each scored 11 to lead the Warriors.

This should give the Cougars confidence heading into their tilt with BCLUW on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Sheffield. They finish the regular season at 8-13.

“It does a lot,” Starr said. “We’ve won three in a row now going into district play, so that’s good. We want that confidence. We now play Conrad next week. Tonight, was a good team, so that’s a lot of good confidence.

“We won one, lost one (against the Comets). I would say we’re pretty similar teams, talent-wise, so it should be a good game.”

Schipper added, “I think it prepares us really well. We’re pretty familiar with each other. We’ll work on a lot of things. It’s going to be a good, hard-fought game. We’ve got to be ready to go, we’ve got a week to prepare. We’ll be ready.”

AGWSR 45, Meskwaki 41

Meskwaki (16-4)– Osceola Tyon 2-9 0-1 5, Larnell Velaquez 3-5 0-1 6, Emmett Roberts 3-7 0-0 6, Taurice Grant 4-10 0-0 11, Evan Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Victor Balderas 5-13 1-2 11, Tiernan Wanatee 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 18-46 1-4 41.

AGWSR (8-13, 4-8 (conf. fina))– Daniel Stahl 1-2 0-0 3, Jaden Penning 1-5 1-2 3, Ben Macy 0-1 1-2 2, Chase Harms 0-2 0-0 0, Luke Starr 8-19 2-3 19, Tanner Weichers 4-8 3-3 13, Titan Opperman 2-9 1-3 5. Totals 16-46 9-15 45.

Meskwaki  11 10   8   12  – 41

AGWSR     14   8   8   15 – 45

Three-point goals– Mesk 4-18 (Grant 3-4, Tyon 1-8, Velaquez 0-2, Roberts 0-2, Balderas 0-2); AGWSR 4-16 (Weichers 2-2, Stahl 1-2, Starr 1-5, Macy 0-1, Penning 0-3, Opperman 0-3). Rebounds– Mesk 25, 3 off., 22 def. (Balderas 8, Grant 6, Velaquez 4, Roberts 3, Wanatee 2, Tyon, Team); AGWSR 32, 10 off., 22 def. (Starr 9, Opperman 8, Weichers 6, Penning 4, Macy 3, Stahl, Harms). Assists– Mesk 12 (Grant 4, Balderas 4, Roberts 2, Tyon, Velaquez); AGWSR 4 (Penning 2, Starr, Opperman). Steals– Mesk 6 (Grant 3, Velaquez 2, Tyon); AGWSR 8 (Penning 4, Macy 3, Opperman). Blocks – Mesk 1 (Tyon); AGWSR 2 (Starr 2). Total fouls– Mesk 13, AGWSR 11.Fouled out – AGWSR, None; Mesk (Wanatee).