Cardinals on a roll and move record to 9-3 in Top of Iowa Conference

By Michelle Watson

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura boys moved their record to 9-3 in the Top of Iowa Conference with two big wins over West Hancock and Belmond-Klemme in action last week.  The Cardinal’s overall record stands at 11-4.

GHV 57, West Hancock 39

James Betz proved Tuesday night why he is college basketball material.  He recorded a double-double with 24-points and 14 rebounds.  Add to this his four assists and six blocked shots, and it’s no wonder he will be in a University of Northern Iowa uniform next season.  Betz’s performance helped the Cardinals to a 57-39 victory over West Hancock (6-5, 6-9).

Betz put in GHV’s first seven points. Jared Graham added four of his own to increase the lead, 11-7.  The Eagles put up a fight and went on a 9-2 run to pull to with in one point, 17-16.  A West Hancock three knotted the score, 19-19 with two minutes remaining in the half.  Two more buckets by the Cardinals gave them a slight advantage heading into the break, 23-19.

The second half started slow.  After two-minutes of play, West Hancock finally hit a three to make the score 23-22.  Betz answered that with back-to-back threes, and another for good measure was added by Justin Reding, and the Cardinals were up by 10-points, 32-22.  Reding hit another three to end the third quarter, 40-28.

It wasn’t just the three-ball Betz and Reding were hitting.  With two minutes left to play, Betz connected on four free-throws and Reding hit two to close the game with a 57-39 victory.

“The three, three-point shots that put us up by double digits swung the momentum.  We were able to ride that momentum along with more solid defense to win the game,” said Coach Jake Young.

Reding ended the night with 11-points.  Jared Graham had eight and Zach Suby pumped in six.

Other rebounding leaders included Graham with five and Lucas Rayhons with four.

Reding ended the game with four assists and two steals.  Graham led the team in steals with three.  Landon Dalbeck had two assists, two steals and one blocked shot.

GHV 69, Belmond-Klemme 37

The Cardinals had four players score in double figures on their way to a 69-37 victory over Belmond-Klemme (4-8, 4-11) on Thursday, Jan. 17.

GHV got down to business in the first quarter.  Kevin Meyers got in off the bench early and pumped in four-points to take a 16-7 lead by the end of the first

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quarter.

The Cardinal defense was in fine form in the second quarter, holding the Broncos to just four points.  James Betz owned the final minute of the half, collecting five points and a block for a 13-11 halftime lead.

B-K made adjustments at the break and came back and put in the first five-points, 31-16.  Betz sunk a three to get the Cards back on track.  The Broncos answered that with a three of their own.  GHV was outscored 23-12 in the third quarter, helping the Broncos to pull within nine-points by the end of the third, 43-34.

“The third quarter was one of our worst of the season.  We allowed them to get many clear looks from the perimeter and cut into our lead,” said Coach Jake Young.

The three’s started falling for the Cardinals in the fourth quarter.  A 21-point run by GHV put the game out of reach for the Broncos.  The bench took over and the game ended with a three-point bucket by Jordan Upmeyer, 69-37.

“I was encouraged by the way we came out in the fourth and dominated the rest of the game,” said Young. “We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and playing a complete game for all four quarters.”

Betz led the team with 23-points.  Also scoring in double figures was Jared Graham with 15.  Landon Dalbeck and Zach Suby both had 10-points.  Betz was 3/5 from the three-point arc and Graham was 3/4.  Suby was a perfect 4/4 from the free-throw line.

Betz led the team in rebounds with eight.  Graham, Dalbeck, Suby and Brody Boehnke all had five-rebounds.

Graham led the team in assists with six, and in steals with three.  Betz had four blocked shots.

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