March 29, 2024

Southwest Valley rallies, holds off EU

Size and pressure hold of resilient Eagles team

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AFTON – The East Union boys battled to the final horn, but could not hold off Southwest Valley Thursday, falling 62-51.

East Union took an early 5-0 lead, holding the differential in its favor for much of the first quarter.

Southwest Valley struggled out of the gate to complete plays, trying to use its size to its advantage over a noticeably smaller East Union squad.

The Timberwolves soon swung the momentum in their favor, causing East Union to resort to cross court passing off the defensive press. Sloppy passing resulted in several turnovers for the Eagles, helping the Timberwolves pull ahead to 29-28.

A 9-1 run to close out the last two minutes of the first half gave Southwest Valley something to work on heading into the locker room at halftime.

“We’ve got to finish, that was the problem in the first half,” said Southwest Valley head coach Andrew Focht. “Everybody knew we were getting great looks around the basket, but we missed so many close shots. It was frustrating for them.”

The Timberwolves were able to continue to finish in the second half, picking up right where they left off.

Despite the offensive awakening, Southwest Valley was unable to extend the lead enough to put East Union away.

Cale Eklund pulled the score to 39-38 with Eagles taking the lead, but scores from Christian McCuen, Dustin Lund, and Jacob Webb gave Southwest Valley the lead with some insurance at 47-42 midway through the fourth quarter.

“I thought we played pretty well offensively, but the turnovers killed us,” said East Union head coach Jared Carter.

Back-to-back threes off of turnovers for the Timberwolves’ Tyler Hoover and Blaine Venteicher pushed the differential to nine at 53-44, enough to slow the tempo down to a crawl with four and a half minutes left in the game.

Several blocks down low from the big men on Southwest Valley ensured a Timberwolves victory as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“This was the first time we had four bigs on the floor at the same time,” said Southwest Valley head coach Andrew Focht. “We knew we had to go big because they have good length on their end. We played really hard. ... I’m happy with the overall effort, but there’s a few little things we have to watch on film and get better on.”

UP NEXT – Southwest Valley (4-10, 3-6 in Pride of Iowa) will hit the road to face AC/GC (4-11, 2-10) on Monday. East Union will face Wayne, hitting the road on Tuesday.

Southwest Valley 62, East Union 51

SWV (62) — 10 21 12 19

EU (51) — 14 15 11 11

SOUTHWEST VALLEY (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 23 12-23 62. Jacob Webb 7 1-3 15, Christian McCuen 5 4-9 14, Dustin Lund 4 4-4 13, Blaine Venteicher 3 2-4 10, Hunter Poston 2 0-0 4, Garrett Moran 1 1-3 3, Tyler Hoover 1 0-0 3. 3-point goals – 4 (Venteicher 2, Lund 1, Hoover 1). Team fouls — 20. Fouled out — none.

EAST UNION (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 19 12-25 51. Matt McGuire 6 3-7 16, Kaden Kirkland 4 3-7 11, Cale Eklund 2 3-4 7, Alex Carrigan 3 1-4 7, Colton Mitchell 2 2-4 6, Ethan Ayers 1 0-0 2, Gus McNeill 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals – 1 (McGuire). Team fouls — 22. Fouled out — Kirkland.