GHV boys get win over No. 1 West Hancock

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura boys proved they deserve to be at the top of the Top of Iowa Conference with two big wins last week.  The Cards moved their record to 10-2, 12-3.

GHV 73, West Hancock 63

The players knew it, the coaches knew it, and the fans knew that Tuesday night’s matchup between the Cardinals and West Hancock was going to be huge.  The Eagles led the conference with a record of 10-1, 13-1, and they had beaten GHV earlier in the season, so a lot was riding on the game.

The Cardinals had an excellent first half, outscoring West Hancock, 43-26.  A three-point buzzer beater by Payton James gave GHV the confidence they needed heading into the half.

“In the first half I thought the guys showed good patience on offense.  We did a nice job finding their shooters and protecting the rim,” said Coach Joe Albertson.

The Eagles made some adjustments at halftime and came back on fire, outscoring the Cardinals 17-9, to pull the score closer, 52-43.

West Hancock connected on four three-point shots early in the fourth quarter to get to within five, 60-55.  Another three-point shot and a field goal knotted the score at 60-60 with 2:36 remaining in the game.  Johnathan O’Connor stepped it up and sunk two free throws and a field goal.  He also got a steal and made an assist to Sam Cataldo to give the Cardinals the lead again, 66-60.  Turner Albertson connected on four free throws to seal the Cardinal victory, 73-63.

“The guys showed a lot of poise in the fourth quarter after West Hancock tied the game.  We needed that kind of game with that kind of result,” said Albertson.

Cataldo had a fantastic night, with 27-points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots.  O’Connor was the second leading scorer with 14-points, followed by James Betz and Nick Joynt with seven-points apiece.  Payton James was 2/3 from the three-point line for six-points.

Betz had a good night on defense with 10 rebounds, one steal and two blocked shots.  He also had two assists.

O’Connor led the team in assists with seven.

GHV 69, Belmond-Klemme 19

The Cardinals picked up a huge road win on Friday, Jan. 22, when they traveled to Belmond-Klemme (2-10, 3-13).  The Broncos proved to be no match for GHV, as the Cardinals walked away with a huge 69-19 victory.

B-K opened the game by sinking two three-point shots.  That was about as far as the Broncos went, as the Cardinals followed that shot with a 16-point unanswered run, which stretched to a 42-10 lead by halftime.

The second quarter was more of the same, with the Cardinal defense holding the Broncos to just nine total points in the second half.

“We were able to get the ball inside and had some great ball movement that led to easy scores,” said Coach Joe Albertson.  “The boys did a nice job controlling the boards and forcing turnovers.  We will have to continue to move the ball and find the open shooters and control the glass to win games next week.”

Sam Cataldo led the team with 18-points.  Other scoring leaders were James Betz and Alek Goll with nine points apiece.  Goll was a perfect 3/3 from the beyond the three-point arc.  Nick Joynt and Ryan Meyers had eight and seven points respectively.

Betz led under the boards with five rebounds.  Meyers grabbed four.

Picking up two steals apiece were Joynt, Johnathan O’Connor, Payton James and Trevor Kluver.

Ben Baumgard, Harley Forry and Holden Hutcheson had three assists apiece.

The team travels to Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Friday, Jan. 29.  Game time is slated for 7:45 p.m.