Knights cruise past Glenville-Emmons

Published 1:22 pm Saturday, December 6, 2008

When Alden-Conger decided to start attacking the basket good things happened Friday night as the Knights faced Glenville-Emmons in Alden.

The Alden-Conger boys’ basketball team broke open a tied game late in the first half with its aggressiveness. The Knights started a 15-0 run late in the first half and carried it over to the second half as they took a 30-15 lead and kept their foot on the accelerator the rest of the way.

Alden-Conger drew 37 free throw attempts and made 23 of them as the Knights cruised to a 63-37 victory to begin the season.

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Knights head coach Bill Hintz said he didn’t expect the team to put up that many points, but there were a lot of questions for Hintz heading into the first game of the season. Alden-Conger graduated seven players from last season, including its starting five, but Friday it looked as though the team will be fine this season.

Travis Marth led the team with 16 points, many of which he scored off steals or drawing fouls. Marth had seven steals in the game and helped get the Knights out in transition.

“The big thing for us was the free throws,” Hintz said. “I’ve always told them that the dang free throws win more games than not.”

Alden-Conger shot 62 percent from the line while the Wolverines (0-1) made just five free throws in the game.

Early on Glenville-Emmons had some success in the low post, but the Knights big men of Spencer Niebuhr and Brandon McTague shut down that area late in the first half.

“The game was tied 15-15 and we just lost our continuity offensively,” Wolverines head coach Dan Fredrickson said. “The first half I felt we got the ball everywhere we wanted to get. We just weren’t converting.”

Glenville-Emmons shot 40 percent from the field, but went 2-for-12 from 3-point range. Turnovers disrupted the continuity the Wolverines had established and the team struggled to find any rhythm on offense. Ryan Dempewolf led Glenville-Emmons with eight points, all of which came in the second half. Michael Adams added seven points and Michael Thofson had six for the Wolverines.

Alden-Conger won the battle on the boards as the Knights had a 33-22 advantage in rebounding. Niebuhr and McTague combined for 11 of the team’s rebounds.

Lucas Kleinschrodt scored 12 points for the Knights and Jon Back came on in the second half to score six of his eight points to help Alden-Conger pick up its first win.

“They played fast tonight and we played on our heels,” Fredrickson said. “That was a big difference.”

The key for Hintz and the Knights was attacking the hoop.

“We started driving to the hole a little more instead of settling for the outside shot,” Hintz said.

A-C 63, G-E 37

G-E 15 22 — 37

A-C 26 37 — 63

G-E scoring: Ryan Dempewolf 8, Michael Adams 7, Michael Thofson 6, Garret Schumaker 5, Peter Hansen 4, Landon Hall 2, Karl Constantino 1, Tyler Woodside 2, Derek Sanderson 1, Spencer Kral 1.

Field goals: 40 percent (13-for-32); 3-pointers: 16 percent (2-for-12); free throws: 22 percent (5-for-22); rebounds: 22, turnovers: 21.

A-C scoring: Travis Marth 16, Lucas Kleinschrodt 12, Jon Back 8, Jordan Mulso 6, Brandon McTague 4, Tyler Adix 4, Max Keller 3, Matt Jensen 3, Spencer Niebuhr 3, Brad Ferree 2, David Troska 2.

Field goals: 47 percent (17-for-36); 3-pointers: 25 percent (2-for-8); free throws: 62 percent (23-for-37); rebounds: 33; turnovers: 22