Warhawks soar past AGWSR

REINBECK – What started as a close game turned quickly in the favor of West Fork in this Class 1A District 10 semifinal at Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School on Tuesday, Feb. 19 in which the Warhawks won, 64-46.
A steal by Josh Bartling that resulted in a lay-up before the first quarter buzzer had AGWSR within 16-12 of the Warhawks, but coach Frank Schnoes’ team took off in the second quarter, building a 33-21 halftime score.
At that point, Zach Martinek already had 11 of his game-high 16 points and the Warhawks had held AGWSR leading scorer Alex Hames to just three points.
“I thought defensively, we really played a game that we wanted to play. We really wanted to work on Hames and (Luke) Starr, they are by far, their best two scorers. I thought Ian (Latham) did a fantastic job on Hames and Mitchell (Halloran) and Jesse (Chibambo) on Starr. That was the key for us to win.”
AGWSR coach Russ Banzhaf agreed that West Fork’s defense was tough.
“I thought defensively, they were solid,” Banzhaf said. “Frank has been around a long time, he’s a good coach, his teams are good players and they were (tonight). He’s got some talent to go with it. They are a good, all-around team. They’ve got inside, they’ve got outside. I thought another big key was rebounding and in the first half, we gave up a lot of second and third shots. I thought it was really important that we not do.”
West Fork (18-4) plays Grundy Center (11-10) Thursday at 7 p.m. at Aplington-Parkersburg High School.
The full story appears in the Feb. 28 print and online editions of the Hampton Chronicle.