The No. 7-ranked Class A Barnum Bombers opened boys basketball play Monday night at home with a 68-61 victory over the scrappy Cromwell Cards.
"I felt we did some things well on offense," mentioned Barnum coach Rich Newman. "Our team shot the ball well from outside, but we need to work on our inside game."
Barnum took a 35-22 halftime lead, but the Cards held a 39-33 scoring advantage in the second half.
"I was interested in seeing how our underclassmen would respond," said Cards coach Bill Pocernich. "Playing the No. 7-ranked team in the state is no easy task. I thought we competed very well for the entire game. We didn't shoot the ball very well in the first half, which ended up being the difference, as Barnum shot it well the entire night."
Dylan Eggen hit four three-pointers in leading Barnum with 18 points, Curtis Houle added 15, it was 13 points each for Kyle Grimm and Steiner Aronsson, Jake Waseen and Josh Earlywine each recorded six points, Erik Johnson added three, and Mike Gilliuson had two points.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Defensively we need to work on our team defense," suggested Newman. "We didn't play as well as we had hoped, but I think a lot of that was due to the solid play of Cromwell."
Cody Hendrickson hit for a game-high 21 points for the Cards, Tyler Burggraff had 17 points, Jordan Smith scored nine, it was seven points for Ryan Hutar, Adam Smith added four and Cody Smith finished with three points.
"Individually Cody (Hendrickson) has been outstanding for us," explained Pocernich. "He is our lone senior starter and has been a great leader to a young team so far this season. Curtis Hakala is our other returning senior who has provided important minutes off the bench and good leadership as well."
- Last Thursday, the Cards ripped Silver Bay 62-32 in a game Cromwell led 42-11 at intermission. Hendrickson again led the Cars with 17 points, while Burggraff was also in double digits with 10 points.
"It was our first game of the year and with four new starters I was a bit unsure what to expect," recalled Pocernich. "We came out with a good level of intensity and quickly built a big lead at halftime. We were able to turn them over with our press and turn those steals into easy baskets. Silver Bay is young and inexperienced and they played hard the entire game."
Cody Smith added nine points for Cromwell, Jordan Smith added seven, it was two points for Bryce Harp, Curtis Hakala and Kyle House, Ryan Hutar and Adam Smith each had four points, and Jordan Suhonen chipped in with six points.
