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RED OAK – Creston continues to climb the ladder in the Hawkeye 10 with a 68-40 win over Red Oak Monday night.
With the win, the Panthers moved to 8-3 and 4-0 in conference play, trailing Lewis Central and Class 3A No. 8 Harlan.
The Panthers jumped early, taking a 13-point lead at 22-9 at the end of the first quarter. Creston’s defense held the Tigers to under double-digit points in the first period, but head coach Bryce Schafer wasn’t content with the defense.
“Didn’t really love our man-to-man tonight,” said Schafer. “I didn’t think that we really had the energy that we needed.”
Creston continued to roll in the second half as the Panthers extended the lead to 34-16 at halftime.
With the lead extending to over 20 points in the second half, Schafer took out his starters and put in the reserves.
“We emptied the bench, got a lot of guys some playing time most of the third quarter and then the entire fourth quarter,” said Schafer. “They kind of got a few open shots on that second unit that was in and kind of increased their score a little bit during that amount of time.”
Despite coming out in the third quarter, three Panthers scored in the double-digits. Colby Burg scored 13 to lead the team. Kaden Briggs and Cael Kralik put up 11 and 10 points, respectively.
With Creston’s bench in the game, the Tigers were able to rally for 24 second-half points on the Panthers’ reserves, but Schafer had a plan to keep his starters rested for the remainder of the week.
“It’s experience for them, but it’s also, we have a three-game week this week,” said Schafer. “We’re trying to rest the top starters and subs for a big game tomorrow against Treynor as well, then a conference game against LC (Lewis-Central) on Friday. So, not having to use them, saving their legs, was a goal of mine as far as the end of the game as well.”
UP NEXT – Creston hosts No. 3 in Class 2A, receiving one vote for first place, Treynor today (Tuesday) with a 7:30 p.m. start time.
Creston 66,
Red Oak 40
Cre (68) — 22 12 21 13
RO (40) — 9 7 12 12
CRESTON (FG FT PTS) — Totals —25 16-24 68. Colby Burg 6 1-2 13, Kaden Briggs 4 3-4 11, Cael Kralik 4 2-2 10, Kyle Strider 3 0-2 8, Brance Baker 2 1-1 5, Cole Peterson 2 0-0 4, Clayton Stafford 1 2-2 4, Evan Bruce 0 4-4 4, Brodie Wallace 1 0-0 2, Cole Strider 1 0-0 2, Derek Paup 0 1-1 1. 3-point goals — 2 (Kyle Strider 2). Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.
RED OAK (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 15 6-11 40. Kobe Johnson 9 2-6 20, Landon Couse 3 0-0 8, Garrett Couse 2 0-0 6, Beyler Bergren 0 4-6 4. 3-point goals – 4 (Garrett Couse 2, Landon Couse 2). Team fouls — 19. Fouled out — None.