Cardinals rally, but fall short in Class 2A Substate Final

(Above) GHV’s Nick Joynt lays up a shot against an Aplington-Parkersburg defender during Monday night’s game.  Also pictured for GHV is Ryan Meyers.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura boys gave it their all, but were unable to make the State Tournament, after Aplington-Parkersburg defeated them in the Class 2A Substate Final Monday night.

AP 65, GHV 60

A win against fifth ranked Aplington-Parkersburg just wasn’t in the cards for GHV.  The two teams met in Charles City for the Class 2A Substate final and the chance to go on to compete in the State Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

A-P (22-1) defeated Dike 78-46 to advance to meet the Cardinals in the Sub-State Final.

The Falcons got off to an early start, hitting a basket and a three to go up, 5-0.  Some free throws by Connor Burke and a three-point shot by James Betz got things rolling for the Cardinals.  A-P slowly inched their way to a 19-11 lead by the end of the first period.

A-P opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run to go up, 29-13.  GHV answered that with a six-point run of their own, 29-19.  The two teams traded three-point shots and the Falcons sunk two free throws and got a put-back to finish the half with a 36-22 lead.

The Falcons were well schooled in free throw shooting and took advantage in the second half.  A-P stretched the lead to 43-22, before Nick Joynt got things rolling, collecting seven points, 48-29.  The Cardinals trailed by 20 points heading into the final quarter, 54-34.

If the Cardinals would have played every quarter like they played the fourth quarter, the game would have been entirely different.  Jonah Albertson hit back-to-back buckets to set the tone for the final period.  A 19-4 run by GHV put a whole new outlook on the game as the Cards pulled to within three-points, 60-57.  Despite a three-point shot by Albertson in the final minute of play, A-P’s free throw shooting came back to haunt the Cardinals.  They connected on five free throws down the final stretch to seal the victory, 65-60.

Betz and Nick Joynt led the team in scoring with 16 and 13 points respectively.  They also led in rebounding, with Betz grabbing nine and Joynt hauling in eight.

Rounding out the scoring was Burke with nine points. Albertson ended with seven points, Ryan Meyers and Ray Cataldo both had six points and Colton Schroeder ended with three.

Joynt led the team in assists with five.  Schroeder and Jared Graham both had three assists.  Burke and Albertson led the team in steals with four and three respectively.  Matthew Heinemann had two blocked shots.

GHV 49, Forest City 29

Fans knew when Garner-Hayfield-Ventura faced Forest City in the Class 2A District Final on Tuesday, Feb. 20, they would witness a good game.  The Indians and the Cardinals have been each others’ biggest competition all season.  Forest City beat GHV, 42-40, early in the season.  The Cardinals came back and avenged that loss by another close game, 54-51.

Tuesday night GHV wasn’t in the mood for another close contest, so they went to work early to put the game out of reach for the Indians.

“We had a couple crazy games with Forest City this year,” said Coach Joe Albertson. “It was probably expected by everyone that one team would have to come from behind and pull off a win.”

Coach Albertson said the objective was to defend their posts without giving up kick-out threes.  He said James Betz, Nick Joynt and Ryan Meyers executed the game plan well, making it difficult for the post to be fed in a good spot.  The team also rebounded the ball well when shots were taken.

The Cardinals opened strong, keeping the Indians scoreless in the first quarter, while they collected nine points.  Forest City didn’t manage a basket until two and one-half minutes into the second quarter, 13-2.  GHV racked up another six point run

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to stretch the lead even more, 19-2.  The Cardinals took a comfortable 24-8 lead into the half.

A halftime pep talk must have helped the Indians, as their scoring picked up in the second half.  Forest City outscored the Cardinals 11-10 in the third quarter.

Back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter brought the score to as close as it would get, 36-25.  The Cardinals ended the game with a 13-4 run and the final victory, 49-29.

Meyers led the team in scoring with 14-points.  He also had four rebounds, two assists, one steal and one blocked shot.

Betz recorded a double-double for the Cardinals with 11 points and 12 rebounds.  He also had one blocked shot.

Also scoring for GHV was Jared Graham with seven points, Joynt added six, Matthew Heinemann chipped in five, Connor Burke had four points and Ray Cataldo had two.

Other rebounding leaders included Joynt with four and Graham and Colton Schroeder both grabbed three.

Burke led the team in assists with four.  Joynt led the team in steals with four and Heinemann grabbed three steals of his own.

“Connor Burke and Matthew Heinemann were two guards that also forced a few turnovers while helping on the post,” said Albertson.

The Cardinals, who were back-to-back conference champions, ended a successful 2017-18 season with a 14-2, 20-5 record.

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