The Paton-Churdan basketball teams started their Christmas break Tuesday night with wins on their home court over Coon Rapids-Bayard.
Despite a 57-46 win, girls coach Chris Petersen said his team “played a very sloppy game and really got controlled on the boards all night.” The Crusaders outscored the Rockets in the second half, but the home team had built a big enough lead in the first half, 34-17 at halftime, to finish with a win.
Carleigh Paul scored 26 points for the Rockets. Teammates Sydney Koch and Grace Geisler had nine points each, Jenna Beyers had eight and Kasey Lane had five.
Koch led the team in assists with three and she played aggressive defense with seven rebounds and six steals. Paup had four rebounds and four steals. Lane and Geisler had four rebounds.
“We did a good enough job of putting pressure on their guards to come out with a win and took care of the ball for the most part,” the coach said. “CR-B played a tough, hard fought game and did a nice job of keeping within striking distance. Our girls did a good job of never letting them close the gap and pulling out the win.”
The girls take a 5-4 record into the break. Their first game of 2016 is Jan. 5 at Ar-We-Va.
The boys’ score was 47-32. The Rockets were up 17-8 after one quarter and 32-19 at halftime. The ball wasn’t going through the hoop in the third quarter, with the Rockets scoring six points and the Crusaders scoring only two. Both teams put up nine points in the quarter for the final 47-32 score.
Noah Juergensen scored 17 points and Jake Berns scored 16 for the Rockets. Berns was on the mark shooting as he made 60 percent of his 2-point shots. Noah Juergensen shot at 46 percent.
Joe Towers scored seven points, including the Rockets only 3-point basket. Chase Juergensen added four points and Charlie Minnehan added three. As a team, the Rockets were 15 of 35 on 2-pointers for 42.8 percent.
The Crusaders no doubt had their fill of the Juergensen brothers. Noah had 10 defensive rebounds blocked eight shots. Chase had seven defensive rebounds and blocked three shots.
Brady Schlepp led the Crusaders in scoring with 15 points.
The Paton-Churdan boys are 8-1. The loss took CR-B to 1-7 on the season.
