Falcons strike from long range

The St. Albert boys came into Tuesday’s game at Creston with two losses to Clarinda and Van Meter by a combined 32 points, but showed no evidence of those struggles in a 59-56 victory over the Panthers.

The Falcons made nine 3-pointers, including six by 6-1 junior guard Nick Ballenger in a 25-point night.

St. Albert was hot from the start, draining four shots from behind the arc in the first quarter as Ballenger was already at 11 points. The Panthers led 21-17 in their Hawkeye Ten opener, but fell behind 33-30 at halftime as the Falcons owned a 16-9 advantage in the second quarter.

“We didn’t play good defense in the first half,” Creston coach Bryce Schafer said. “They got hot early because we didn’t want to get a hand up and contest a shot. We held them better in the second half, but we didn’t deal with their pressure well. I was frustrated that we didn’t get the ball into (Brayden) Schoon in the post more. Then you have a chance to get fouled, see cutters or the inside-out kickouts for threes.”

Parker Varner scored a team-high 16 points for the Panthers with two 3-pointers. Season scoring leader Jake Hoyt was hampered by three first-half fouls and managed 15 points after a strong opening quarter with nine points. Schoon finished with 12.

Fourth-quarter drought

Creston finished the third quarter on a 6-2 run to crawl in front, 50-49. The Falcons wasted no time in reversing the momentum by taking an eight-point lead (58-50) with 4:52 to play. The game sat at 58-54 for a long stretch of the final three minutes as the Panthers forced three Falcon turnovers, yet unable to take advantage of the opportunities with cold shooting.

Schoon finally broke the cold spell with a basket to cut it to 58-56 with 20 seconds left. Ballenger made one of two free throws at the 10-second mark to keep Creston within one possession, but St. Albert came up with the ball in a scramble for the rebound on the second shot miss. Creston got the ball back with 2.7 seconds left but was unable to get a clean look at the basket.

Creston managed only six points in the fourth quarter. The Panthers (1-2) host Atlantic Friday in a girl-boy doubleheader. Atlantic fell to 0-3 Tuesday in a 49-28 loss to Clarinda.

“We were good at the free throw line again tonight, but we weren’t aggressive enough to get more chances,” Schafer said. “We won’t be winning any Hawkeye Ten games if we don’t play better than tonight, it’s that simple. We have two practices (Wednesday and Thursday) to get better.”

ST. ALBERT (59) — Totals (FG FT PTS) — 21 8-12 59. Nick Ballenger 9 1-2 25, Noah Narmi 2 4-4 8, Owen Marshall 2 2-3 7, Colt Spener 2 1-2 5, Joe Hughes 2 0-0 5, Cain Hughes 2 0-0 4, Ben Krohn 1 0-0 3, Cooper Hamilton 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 9 (Ballenger 6, J. Hughes 1, Krohn 1, Marshall 1). Team fouls — 19. Fouled out — Spencer.

CRESTON (56) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 20 10-14 56. Parker Varner 6 2-2 16, Jake Hoyt 5 4-7 15, Brayden Schoon 4 4-5 12, Rhett Driskell 2 0-0 5, Josh Schaefer 1 0-0 3, Tyler Riley 1 0-0 3, Cael Barton 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 6 (Varner 2, Hoyt 1, Schaefer 1, Riley 1, Driskell 1). Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — None.