The Paton-Churdan basketball teams both returned from Anita with wins after Friday night basketball games against the CAM Cougars.
The girls won 50-41. The Rockets took an early lead but needed a big fourth quarter to seal the win. The victory evens their record at 2-2 overall and in the Rolling Valley Activity Conference.
The Rockets were ahead 16-10 at the end of the first quarter and 26-19 at halftime. However, by the end of the third quarter their lead was only two points. The Rockets outscored the Cougars 14 to seven in the fourth quarter to finish the game with an 11 point win.
“It was a very up and down game for us, establishing a lead early and letting it slip away by the end of the third,” coach Chris Petersen said. “The girls did a good job of closing out the game by controlling the fourth quarter. We have struggled at CAM in the past few seasons, so any win we get coming out of there is a good win for us.
Petersen said he was particularly happy with the Rockets’ defensive game, as they held the Cougars’ lead scorer, Felicity Jackson, to just 11 points, three of them at the free throw line.
Carleigh Paup scored 17 points and had seven steals and seven rebounds. Kasey Lane had 12 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks. Sydney Koch scored eight points with five rebounds. Jenna Beyers scored seven points and had eight rebounds, Grace Geisler scored four points and had six rebounds, and Megan Carey scored two points.
The boys won the second game of the twin bill 65-60 to extend their winning record to four with no losses.
Coach Chris Stimson said his team had a hard time getting things going in the first half, and he characterized the Cougars as a team that “is just tough to put your finger on.”
The Rockets scored first and were never behind, with a one point lead, 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, but a tie at 28 at the end of the half. Six points was the largest lead the Rockets had during the game, and their lead was just two points, 39-37, at the end of the third quarter.
Both teams finished strong. With two minutes to play, it was a one possession game with the score 54-51. The Rockets added a basket in the next minute for a 56-51 score, but both teams scored nine points each during the last minute of the game for a 65-60 final score.
Three-point shots were plentiful, with five from the Rockets’ Joe Towers and two from Rocket Jake Berns, and five Cougars sharing a total of 13 of the long shots.
Along with the 15 points via 3-pointers, Towers made one field goal and went 10 of 10 from the free throw line for 27 points. Noah Juergensen scored 17 points, Berns scored a total of 13 points, and Chase Juergensen and Charlie Minnehan added four each.
CAM’s Thomas Hensley also scored 27 points.
Leading defensively were Noah Juergensen with 11 rebounds and two assists, and Chase Juergensen with nine rebounds and four assists. Towers had five rebounds, three steals and four assists. Berns had six rebounds and three assists.
