West Marshall rallies by AGWSR

ACKLEY — Reminiscent of the AGWSR boys’ basketball contest from the previous week against BCLUW, the Cougars experienced much of the same from West Marshall in an eventual 41-32 loss to the Trojans on Friday, Jan. 22.

Much like the loss to the Comets, one sharp-shooter did coach Ryley Schipper’s team in.

Owen Seigert, who had just six points at halftime on a pair of three-pointers, nailed four treys down the stretch, his third giving the Trojans the lead for good at 33-32 with 1 minute, 50 seconds remaining.

“We only gave up three field goals in the first half, two of them were to him; we said at half, ‘he’s got two three-pointers and we’ve got to be able to find him,’” AGWSR coach Ryley Schipper said. “They did a good job of running him off some screens and we didn’t do a good job of communicating. The loss of David (Koop), he’s our main communicator on defense and losing David is going to hurt us, hopefully for the short-time being that he’s out.”

Starter David Koop left the game late in the second quarter while collapsing after a collision, clutching his knee. He had to be helped off the court.

“Darren (Veld) is going to have to be a spark for us now. I’m not sure what’s happened with David, but Darren is going to fill that role,” Schipper said. “Darren is probably a starter on any other team and Bradly will have to step up off the bench and we may have to develop some depth. Get Gabe Nederhoff or Jefferey Pfaltzgraff and Cale Culver going just to get us a little bit of depth and we’ll see where we go from there.”

West Marshall outscored the Cougars 16-2 in the final five minutes.

In the first quarter, it was all AGWSR. Jaden Penning had nine of his team-high 13 points in the first eight minutes of the game. The Cougars came out with a 14-3 advantage and then led 20-9 at halftime.

“The first quarter we were fantastic, we were getting to the basket, we were finishing shots and really doing whatever we wanted and I think the guys were happy with the way we were playing,” Schipper said. “They were feeling confident, you know, they were high-fiving, they were smiling as a coach, that makes you feel good. You want your guys to have fun and I felt good.

“As things start to get tight, we have been in so many situations like that, it’s time for once to start finally winning those games and tonight, we didn’t but I think down the stretch it will lead to some wins as we close out the year.”

Losing Koop was significant, but Chase Harms did his best to pick up the slack. With three points at halftime, he finished with nine.

“Chase was really good tonight,” Schipper said. “We’ve had good conversations with Chase and his best aspect is his ability to give effort. When he gives effort, he gives a little bit of confidence. Tonight, he played with a lot of confidence. He made some shots and knocked down some shots for us, which is huge. If we can get Chase to score, you know, I like our chances on most nights. 

“Unfortunately, didn’t come out on the right end tonight.”

West Marshall 41

AGWSR 32

West Marshall (5-7)— Joey Tollefson 3-9 0-0 7, Graham Mason 2-2 1-3 5, Brandt Dickey 0-3 0-0 0, Peyton Hart 0-6 1-2 1, Parker Reese 0-3 0-0 0, Owen Siegert 7-10 5-7 26, Jackson Porter 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Schuler 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 13-34 7-12 41.

AGWSR (4-8)— Daniel Stahl 2 1-4 5, Bradly Roder 0 0-0 0, Jaden Penning 5 1-2 13, David Koop 1 0-0 2, Ben Macy 0 1-2 1, Chase Harms 4 1-1 9, Darren Veld 0 2-2 2. Totals 12 6-11 32.