Paton-Churdan split basketball games against the Adair-Casey Bombers on the home floor in Churdan Tuesday. The girls lost 49-37 and the boys won 69-54.
In the girls game P-C trailed most of the first quarter but put up six unanswered points to tie the score at 10 to start the second quarter. The score was again tied at 20 points each with four minutes to play in the half. The Bombers put up seven points as the Rockets were able to score only two, and the score at halftime was 27-22 in favor of the visiting team.
The Rockets lost power in the third quarter, scoring only two points for the entire quarter, and trailed 35-24 at the end of the quarter. A good effort in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough. As the Rockets scored 11 points the Bombers scored 14 for the final score of 49-37.
High scorer for the game was A-C’s Madie Sorensen with 16 points. The Bombers were good beyond the arc, making a total of eight 3-point shots. Carleigh Paup led the Rockets in scoring with 14 points, with Kasey Lane and Gracie Geisler at nine points each and Sydney Koch at five points. Paup, Koch and Geisler all made one 3-point shot, and Paup and Koch were both 100 percent at the free throw line, with Paup scoring five points there and Koch scoring two.
The loss put the Rocket girls at 10-7 in the Rolling Valley Activities Conference.
The boys game was a scoring duel between P-C junior Noah Juergensen and A-C senior Emmitt Wheatley. Juergensen went into the game averaging 17.9 points a game and scored 27. Wheatley averaged 19.9 points, and he also scored 27 points. They used different methods; Wheatley made six 3-point shots, three in each half, while Juergensen attacked the basket inside, making no 3-point shots. Juergensen was three for three at the free throw line; Wheatley was one for three.
Juergensen had help in the Rocket cause from senior Jake Carey. Carey made 16 points including one 3-point basket and three for three free throw shooting. Colton Fitzpatrick and Joe Towers both scored six points on two 3-pointers, and Jacob Bundt scored his six points the old-fashioned way, as two field goals. Chase Juergensen scored five points including a long shot and Dylan Burgart scored three points.
The Rockets scored first and didn’t look back. After seven minutes of play they led the Bombers 21-3. The halftime score was 43-23, with 18 of the Bombers’ points coming from 3-point range.
The Rockets shooting was chilly to start the second half as they went scoreless in the first four minutes of play, and the Bombers were able to tighten the score to 46-35 with three minutes to play in the third quarter, but that’s as close as they got. They outscored the Rockets 31 points to 26 in the second half, but in basketball, both halves count. The Rockets held their generous lead to the finish to win 69-54.
The win puts the Rockets at 14-3 in the Rolling Valley Conference, trailing only undefeated Ar-We-Va in league standings.
