West Fork boys top Nashua-Plainfield

Friday night the West Fork boys’ basketball team played its final home conference game of the season by welcoming Nashua Plainfield Huskies to Sheffield. The junior varsity squad did an outstanding job controlling the pace of play and executing on both ends of the floor. Coach Bohman commented after the game that “we did a great job jumping on them early and being the cheese!” The Warhawks jumped out to an early lead with their full court press and never let their foot off the gas the entire way, winning by a score of 53-36. Jack Ward led the scoring with 12 points while Nolan Shreckengost scored 10, Ashyr Wiseman nine and Xavier Baptiste six.

In the varsity contest, Nashua played a matchup 2-3 zone that gave the Warhawks fits for three quarters, until they were able to finally figure it out and pick it apart in the fourth. Nashua-Plainfield senior Bo Harrington had his way in the first half despite being face guarded, tallying 15 points. Going into the half the Warhawks led 24-22 and felt good about where they were at despite the close score because of how well they were playing defensively. 

This was one of the slower paced games the Warhawks have played this year, so being able to play both styles was important heading down the stretch. Riding that momentum, the Warhawks were able to pull away in the forth and the game ended with a score of 53-41. 

Coaches remarked how proud they were of the kids for battling so fiercely, and emphasized how important it was to pour it on for these last two games, how important the experience of seeing a variety of defenses to try and slow them down was, and how that led to them winning games in different fashions. Cayde Eberling led the Warhawks with 18 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Sage Suntken recorded a double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds. Gavin Cronk added 14 points and four rebounds while Josiah Chibambo had seven points and three rebounds.

The Warhawks clinched a share of the Top of Iowa Conference East Division with the victory and moved to 15-3 overall, 14-1 in conference play. They played at Osage Monday with the outright conference title on the line. They wrap up the regular season at home against Forest City Thursday.