Hot start for Ames on Senior Night

SHEFFIELD – Kayden Ames came out on fire from beyond the three-point line, coming up short of matching his school-record tying mark of three-point makes in a game as West Fork rolled out to a 79-31 win over North Butler on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Ames was 6-of-7 from beyond the arc in the first half alone with the last one just rimming out on his way to a game-high 22 points for the Warhawks.

“He’s really close,” West Fork coach Frank Schnoes said. “He was in a slump for a long time, so it was nice to see him come out of that.”

Ames has twice hit seven threes in a game, once this year and once last year. With his six treys in the first half, there was hope he’d break his own school mark, but his last two attempts wouldn’t go and Schnoes cleared the bench with the score well in hand.

“Obviously, they had a great shooting night from their starters,” North Butler coach John Jones said. “Kayden hits six three-pointers. We didn’t do a bad job – we didn’t leave him wide open, some of them weren’t good close-outs – but other times he was wide open.”

Schnoes was able to play everyone and nearly all contributed in some way.

“It was good to get all of the seniors in and even the younger guys,” Schnoes said. “They played hard. When you are playing hard, shooting the ball really well. They played pretty good defense, as well.”

Jones said he knew what his team would be getting with the Warhawks, which improved to 13-3 overall, 12-0 in the TIC East.

“When you know you’re coming into West Fork, they are going to play hard, they play hard all 32 minutes, it doesn’t matter who is coming in,” Jones said. “They just play hard – know where their spots are and know how to play.

“That’s why that team is probably going to be a state tournament team, I believe in the end if they get everything correct. I’m hoping for the best for them, it’s good to have a team from our conference in the state tournament.”

North Butler had 13 points from Corbin Lewis and was without the services of senior guard Alex Shultz.

“He injured his ankle during practice on Sunday, so I just thought with Northwood and West Fork, it wasn’t best interest to play for these next two games,” Jones said. “Just sat him down because obviously, we have more games coming up and I don’t want to risk a major injury.

“It’s hurt us on the defensive side. We’ve struggled – he’s like our defensive set – he sets the tone defensively. That’s what I’m missing from him and obviously the team does. I don’t think they see it, but they see that when he’s in there, it rubs off on other people, so we’re going to get him back. I’m excited to get back to work.”

West Fork 79, North Butler 31

North Butler (5-13, 5-9)– Avery Boos 0-2 0-0 0, Owen Almelien 1-2 0-0 2, Aiden Gotto 0-2 0-0 0, Dylan Shirah 1-6 0-0 3, Nathan Hawker 0-2 5-6 5, Corbin Lewis 6-8 1-2 13, Fletcher Buss 1-1 0-0 2, Kaleb Salge 2-10 0-0 4, Xander Treichel 0-2 1-2 1, Kaleb Wangsness 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Rademaker 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 11-35 8-12 31.

West Fork (13-3, 12-0)– Kayden Ames 8-11 0-0 22, Cail Weaver 5-13 4-5 15, Jakob Washington 5-8 2-3 12, Ren Heimer 0-2 0-0 0, Joe Ingham 2-4 0-0 4, Noah Maske 2-3 0-0 4, Josiah Chibambo 0-2 2-2 2, Colin Martinek 3-6 1-2 9, Cayde Eberling 0-0 0-0 0, Edison Caspers 4-7 1-2 9, Trevor Guritz 0-0 0-0 0, Casyn Guerrero 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Black 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 30-59 10-14 79.

N. Butler      6     6   14     5      -   31

W. Fork      23   25   16   15      -   79

Three-point goals– NB 1-8 (Shirah 1-2, Hawker 0-1, Almelien 0-1, Salge 0-1, Gotto 0-1, Lewis 0-2); WF 9-19 (Ames 6-8, Martinek 2-2, Weaver 1-3, Heimer 0-1, Chibambo 0-1, Guerrero 0-1, Black 0-1, Washington 0-2). Rebounds– NB 17 (Salge 4, Hawker 3, Wangsness 2, Shirah 2, Treichel 2, Boos, Almelien, Gotto, Rademaker); WF 34 (Caspers 7, Heimer 5, Weaver 3, Ames 3, Washington 3, Maske 3, Martinek 3, Eberling 2, Black 2, Ingham, Chibambo, Guerrero). Assists– NB, None; WF 19 (Heimer 5, Maske 5, Weaver 4, Ames 4, Martinek 2, Ingham, Eberling).Steals– NB 3 (Lewis, Boos, Rademaker); WF 15 (Weaver 5, Washington 5, Ingham 2, Maske 2, Heimer). Blocks – NB 2 (Salge, Buss); WF 1 (Caspers). Total fouls – NB 11, WF 15. Fouled out – None.