March 28, 2024

Size dictates in loss

Nodaway Valley falls in POI contest to larger Martensdale-St. Marys team

Image 1 of 2

GREENFIELD – Forty-two points in the second half carried Martensdale-St. Marys over Nodaway Valley boys basketball Friday.

A 30-27 NV lead at halftime quickly withered away as the Blue Devils’ Isaac Gavin got going from the outside.

After being held to just two points in the first half, Martensdale’s 6-8 junior forward caught an alley-oop pass for a slam before stepping out to the corner and nailing three triples over the course of the third quarter.

“Their height, their aggressiveness dictated our passes. We couldn’t make clean, crisp passes,” said co-head coach James Larson. “It took us out of our rhythm. We can’t let that happen, but we did.”

NV started to rely on the outside shot as the second half wore on and the Blue Devils took advantage with high-quality looks and strategic ball movement while utilizing mismatches.

A deep 3-pointer by Toby Bower made it 54-47, at the end of the third quarter, but Martensdale-St. Marys scored 10 of the next 12 points to push out to a 15-point edge.

Carson Elbert and Jack Franey made the Wolverines pay with 19 and 14 points, respectively.

The Blue Devils ball movement opened up plenty of looks as Martensdale ended the contest with 20 assists on 24 made baskets.

Aryll Shantz didn’t have issues scoring down low with spinning post moves, leading to his 21 points on the evening.

“He’ll spin move left. He’ll spin move right. ... The way he plays is just kind of Aryll. He kind of has his own style,” said Larson. “What he’s doing this year isn’t a fluke.”

Bower continued to be the Wolverines biggest scoring threat from the perimeter, hitting four 3-pointers over the course of the contest.

First half

Nodaway Valley used the second quarter to propel itself to a three-point lead at the intermission.

Trailing 26-21, NV scored nine of the next 10 points to grab the lead and all the confidence.

Bower hit a putback basket to cut the deficit to three before Bower found Shantz down low for a quick score.

Shantz proceeded to hit 3 of 4 free throws before grabbing an offensive rebound that led to a layup as the last bucket of the half.

Struggling to keep going to what was working allowed Martensdale to pounce on second half opportunities.

“That was the difference in the first half (versus) the second half. We were attacking, we were getting offensive rebounds then we started taking deep threes and didn’t crash the boards,” said Larson.

UP NEXT – Nodaway Valley (4-2, 3-1) will travel to take on another undefeated POI squad on Tuesday in Mount Ayr (4-0, 4-0).

Martensdale-St. Marys 71, Nodaway Valley 58

MSM (71) — 16 11 27 17

NV (58) — 12 18 17 11

MARTENSDALE-ST. MARYS (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 24 15-27 71. Carson Elbert 6 3-6 19, Isaac Gavin 6 2-6 17, Jack Franey 5 3-5 14, Trey Baker 3 5-6 11, Hogan Franey 2 2-3 6, JT Archibald 1 0-1 2, Troy Holt 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 8 (Elbert 4, Gavin 3, Franey 1). Rebounds – 35 (Baker 12, Gavin 7, H. Franey 5). Assists – 20 (H. Franey 8, J. Franey 7). Steals – 8 (J. Franey 4). Team fouls — 18. Fouled out — H. Franey.

NODAWAY VALLEY (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 21 9-13 58. Aryll Shantz 7 7-9 21, Toby Bower 5 0-0 14, Clay Hohertz 4 2-4 11, Grant Meisenheimer 2 0-0 4, Cole Shike 1 0-0 3, Brady Hilpipre 1 0-0 3, Josh Baudler 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 7 (Bower 4, Hohertz 1, Hilpipre 1, Shike 1). Rebounds – 36 (Shantz 11, Hilpipre 10, Hohertz 7, Meisenheimer 3, Shike 2, Bower 2, Baudler 1). Assists – 16 (Bower 5, Baudler 4, Shike 4, Hohertz 2, Shantz 1). Steals – 10 (Baudler 3, Bower 2, Hilpipre 2, Shantz 1, Hohertz 1). Team fouls — 22. Fouled out — Baudler, Shike.