Both Paton-Churdan teams topped the CAM (Anita) Cougars in home basketball Friday night, Jan. 23.
The girls improved their record in the Rolling Valley Activities Conference to 9-5 with a 43-29 victory.
Carleigh Paup added another 20 points to her total. She sank one 3-point shot and six field goals, and was five of six at the free throw line. Sydney Kock notched two 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game with eight points. Kasey Lane also scored eight points. Reilly Niles made three points with a field goal and one of two at the free throw line. Paup and Niles were the only Rockets who made it to the line. Gracie Geisler scored three points.
The Cougars led the entire first quarter and were up 9-6 at the end of the quarter. They stretched the lead to 14-6 in the first minute of the second quarter, and it wasn’t until two minutes left to play int he quarter that the Rockets took a 17-16 lead. The score was 20-16 for the Rockets at half-time. The Cougars held Paup to only four points that half, with Koch and Lane putting up six points each and Niles and Geisler contributing two points apiece. (All of Paup’s free throws were in the second half.)
The Rockets scored eight unanswered points in the third quarter before the Cougars scored in the last minute of the frame. The score at the end of the third quarter was 30-018. Eleven points was the smallest lead the Rockets had in the fourth quarter (35-24 with four minutes to play).
The boys played cleaner defense than their last game, with Jake Carey only being tagged for one foul and Joe Towers being called for no fouls. Both Carey and Towers had fouled out in the Tuesday night loss to league-leader Ar-We-Va. The Rockets as a team committed only five fouls total in the 55-39 win over the CAM Cougars. The fouls resulted in only two foul shots for the Cougars, only one of which was good.
Noah Juergensen lead the team in scoring with 15 points, including three of four free throw shooting. Dylan Burgart scored 12 points but was zero for two at the free throw line. Carey also scored 12 points, with six of them coming as a pair of 3-pointers in the first half. Towers had a 3-pointer in the first half and a pair of field goals in the second half for seven points, while Colton Fitzpatrick also came up with a tres in the first half and a field goal in the second for five points. Jake Berns scored four second half points.
The Rockets scored first but with four minutes to play in the first quarter the Cougars were up 8-6. That was the only lead the Cougars enjoyed. Score after one quarter was 18-10 for the Rockets, and the score at the half was 31-25. The Rockets scored 10 unanswered points in the top of the third quarter to build a 41-25 lead, but the Cougars scored the next six points. Score after three quarters was 41-31. The Cougars scored only eight points in the fourth quarter to the Rockets’ 12, for the final 55-39 margin.
The Rocket boys are now 11-3 in Rolling Valley hoops.
