Creston sweeps weekend games

Creston’s boys basketball team enjoyed a sucessful weekend, leading to a season-best winning streak.

The Panthers downed St. Albert Friday and won at Winterset Saturday.

Creston has now won four games in a row while improving to 8-7 on the season.

On Friday, Creston took better care of the defensive glass in the second half of Friday’s Hawkeye 10 Conference matchup with St. Albert.

The Panthers combined that with strong offensive play inside and outside to pick up a 64-50 win at Panther Gym.

Creston picked up its third straight win of the season.

“It feels good,” said senior Cody Crawford. “We haven’t had a streak like that this year.”

The first half had its share of struggles for the Panthers as St. Albert led 11-9 after the first quarter and 24-21 at halftime.

Creston cleaned up a number of things in controlling the second half.

St. Albert had nine offensive rebounds in the first half.

“We battled through not playing as well in the first half — a lot of turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds,” said Creston coach Taylor Phipps. “In the second half, we cleaned it up.”

The Panthers hit their share of outside shots, with Cody Crawford draining three triples.

In the second half, it was crisp passing that led to open driving lanes for Kylan Smallwood and Evan Jacobson against the Falcons’ 1-3-1 zone.

“It feels good when we share the ball,” Crawford said. “That’s when we play the best is when we spread the ball around, pushing the floor.”

Smallwood and Jacobson found lanes to drive to the basket. Crawford and company were effective with their shots from downtown.

“One of the keys was that we attacked their zone, not just settling for three’s,” Phipps said. “We took good three pointers when they were there. We were patient, looked to drive.”

With the offense clicking and the defense making stops, it led to a 12-2 run to break it open in the third. Creston trailed 30-29 early in the third, but then took a commanding 41-32 edge.

Creston pushed the lead to double figures early in the fourth and did not allow St. Albert to come closer than 12 points down the stretch.

Creston’s defense made the stops needed in the second half.

“We’ve really been emphasizing on the defensive end making sure we’re getting that done,” Phipps said. “Everybody answered the bell in the third and the fourth quarter.”

The Panthers picked up solid contributions from all who played.

“We had a lot of guys step up,” Phipps said.

Saturday: Creston 64, Winterset 52

WINTERSET — The Creston backcourt did the heavy lifting in a 64-52 road win Saturday to claim the teams’ fourth straight win.

Kylan Smallwood poured in 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists in the win.

Evan Jacobson added 19 points and nailed five 3-pointers.

Cody Crawford knocked down three treys, grabbed nine rebounds and had seven assists.

UP NEXT — Creston (8-7) is at Shenandoah (5-10) Friday.

St. Albert at Creston

St. Albert scoring summary — Jake Carley 6 7-9 21, Luke Waters 2 0-0 5, Tyler Blaha 5 2-3 12, Kyle Barnes 0 3-3 3, Joe Liston 2 3-5 7, Matt Fagan 1 0-6 2. 3-pt goals — 3 (Carley 2, Waters 1) Team fouls — 28. Fouled out — None.

CR: Scoring —Kylan Smallwood 7 6-13 21, Evan Jacobson 3 8-9 14, Seth Thompson 1 1-2 4, Cody Crawford 6 4-5 19, Tucker Flynn 0 1-4 1, Trevor Downing 2 1-2 5. 3-pt goals — 5. (Kylan Smallwood 1, Seth Thompson 1, Cody Crawford 3) FG Shooting — 19-37 (51.3 percent). Rebounds — 37 (Trevor Downing 8, Kylan Smallwood 7, Tucker Flynn 7, Jaden Driskell 5). Assists — 11 (Evan Jacobson 5, Kylan Smallwood 2, Cody Crawford 2). Steals — 11 (Kylan Smallwood 3, Cody Crawford 3, Jaden Driskell 3). Team fouls —22 . Fouled out — Flynn.

SA (50)  10 14 15 11

CR (64) 9 12 25 18

Crestosn at Winterset

CR: Scoring —Kylan Smallwood 7 7-8 21, Evan Jacobson 5 4-4 14, Seth Thompson 1 0-0 3, Cody Crawford 4 0-0 11, Tucker Flynn 2 1-2 5, Kyle Somers 0 1-2 1, Trevor Downing 1 2-4 4. 3-pt goals — 9. (Evan Jacobson 5, Seth Thompson 1, Cody Crawford 3) FG Shooting — 20-48 (31.7 percent). Rebounds — 39 (Cody Crawford 9, Trevor Downing 8, Kylan Smallwood 8. Assists — 17 (Cody Crawford 7, Kylan Smallwood 3, Evan Jacobson 2, Seth Thompson 2). Steals — 8 (Kylan Smallwood 2, Evan Jacobson 2, Seth Thompson 2). Blocks — 2 (Tucker Flynn 1, Trevor Downing 1). Team fouls —15 . Fouled out — None.

Winterset scoring summary —Eastin Darling 4 0-1 10, Nick Mortoza 2 1-2 5, Andre Nicholl 1 0-0 3, Jayden Carney 1 0-0 2, Carter Tryon 1 0-0 2, Casey Kleemeier 4 8-11 17, Justin Henry 2 0-1 4, Nick Bauer 4 1-1 9. 3-pt goals — 4. (Easton Darlin 2, Andrew Nicholl 1, Casey Kleemeier 1) FG Shooting — 19-50 (38 percent). Rebounds — 29 (Nick Bauer 5). Assists — 12 (Casey Kleemeier 5). Steals — 9 (Easton Darling 4). Team fouls —15 . Fouled out — None.

CR (64)  11 18 16 19

W (52) 6 17 11 18

Junior varsity

The Creston boys JV teams lost games Friday (against St. Albert) and Saturday (versus Winterset). The Falcons topped the Panthers 62-32 while the Huskies defeated Creston 70-56.
Eli Loudon scored 13 in the St. Albert loss and 23 in the loss to Winterset.

The Panthers struggled on the defensive end in both games.

“We changed it up and played an aggressive, full-court man (defense) and played all 14 players in a rotation,” coach Todd Jacobson said about the Panthers’ game against Winterset. “It helped us out on the offensive end but our communication on defense suffered and we gave up too many easy transition baskets.

The next game for the JV is at Shenandoah Friday.

St. Albert scoring summary

Cr: Scoring — Eli Loudon 11, Jeffrey Dillenburg 6, Michael Scherer 5, Camden Peterson 3, James McDonald 2, Lee Normandeau 2, Walker Patterson 1.

SA (62)  17 9 24 12

Cr (32) 5 15 6 6

Winterset scoring Summary

Cr: Eli Loudon 23, Trey Cheers 7, Peres Reed 7, Mark Waigand 5, Michael Scherer 4, Lee Normandeau 2, Kendall Crawford 2, Nate Pudenz 2

Cres (56)  11 13 19 19

Wint (70)  17 20 11 22

Freshmen

Winterset 60, Creston 51

The Creston freshmen basketball team fell at Winterset 60-51 Saturday.

Camden Peterson scored 20 points to lead the way as Austin Bloyd had a strong 16-point performance.

Scoring for the Panthers in the loss were Devin Baker (6), Gavin Gilliam (5), Eli Hartman (2), Spencer Lane (1), Ashton Wills (1).