March 29, 2024

Smallwood eclipses 1,000

Panthers win final game of regular season on mile marker night

PERRY – The Creston boys basketball team finished the regular season with a bang Thursday night as they picked up a 79-64 win over Perry and junior guard Kylan Smallwood scored his 1,000th point.

Since returning to action in early January the dynamic playmaker has slashed his way through defenses, averaging 23.8 points per game before Thursday's contest in which he scored 28.

"I think he was excited and just really glad that we got it on a night that we won," said Phipps of Smallwood's milestone marker.

Evan Jacobson has continued to get his shots as well as he matched Smallwood with 28 points of his own.

Phipps noted that the Perry defense had some issues getting out to cover open Panthers from beyond the arc, allowing Creston to net seven 3-pointers.

The Panthers spent a ton of time at the free throw line. As a unit, they hit 30 of their 37 free throws.

Phipps noted that the stop-and-start nature of the game affected his team.

"Never could get into a good rhythm on either end of the floor," said Phipps. "Coming off of back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday that were tough physical games and then going on the road Thursday knew it was going to be a grind."

The win marked Creston's fourth win in its last five games and gives the Panthers a cage full of confidence heading into the postseason.

"Momentum is a huge part of basketball and I think were playing with a lot of confidence right now," said Phipps. "We truly believe we can make a big run in the postseason."

UP NEXT – Creston will get that chance Monday when they travel to Harlan to take on Carroll.

Phipps noted that the Tigers are a good 3-point shooting team and the Panthers will have to continue being aggressive on the defensive end in order to take looks away from the Raccoon River Conference Champions.

Running score by quarter

Crest – 16 37 59 79

Perry – 8 25 43 64

Crest (FG FT PTS) – Totals – 21 30-37 79. Kylan Smallwood 8 9-13 28, Evan Jacobson 7 12-14 28, Cael Kralik 2 5-6 9, Cole Higgins 1 2-2 5, Jaden Driskell 2 0-0 5, Brance Baker 0 2-2 2. 3-point goals – 7 (Smallwood 3, Jacobson 2, Driskell 1, Higgins 1). Team fouls – 15. Fouled out – None.

Perry (FG FT PTS) – Totals – 22 9-17 64. Rashon Ivory 6 3-5 15, Tanner Duffy 4 3-3 14, Drew Levan 5 1-1 12, Conner Nielsen 3 1-1 9, Luke Rathje 3 0-0 6, Jacob Hoffman 2 0-0 6, Keghan West 1 0-2 2, Devon Booth 0 1-3 1. 3-point goals – 7 (Duffy 3, Nielsen 2). Team fouls – 28. Fouled out – Ivory.