The Greene County Rams lost the girls game but won the boys game Feb. 4 against the North Polk Comets in Alleman. The games were scheduled for Feb. 2 but were delayed due to the Groundhog Day storm.
The Rams win in the boys game evened the season, as the Comets had won in Jefferson Dec. 18 by a 62-46 score.
In the rematch, the Rams came out strong and held a 20-15 lead after the first quarter. Once the Comets started hitting their lay-ups they seemed nearly unstoppable. They tied the score at 25 with 3:23 to play in the half. The Comets were up 31-29 until freshman Trey Hinote hit a 3-pointer to give the Rams a short-lived one point lead. The Comets put up a final lay-up for the half and took a 33-32 lead into the locker room.
The Rams scored first in the second half but again, the Comets were easily making layups to build a 49-41 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Rams made defensive and offensive adjustments and began chipping away at the Comets’ lead. The Rams were down 51-44 but scored the next 14 points to hold a 58-51 lead with 58 seconds left to play. The Comets made their only 3-pointer of the game to move to within four, but the Rams scored the next five points from the free throw line to claim a 63-54 win. The Rams had scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to the Comets’ five.
The Comets shot better at the free throw line than the Rams, making seven of eight for 87.5 percent while the Rams shot at 67 percent. But, the Rams made it to the line 24 times, so their 67 percent earned them 16 points. The Rams shot at 46 percent from the floor while the Comets shot at 42 percent.
The Comets’ Grant Rampton led all scorers with 23 points, nearly double his season average.
Trey Tucker led the Rams with 21 points and Hinote scored 18 points. Tucker made three 3-point shots and Hinote made four.
Max Neese scored eight points, Wade Adcock had six, Tyler Beger had four, including a tres, Reid Lamoureux made three points at the line, and Sico Boateng made one point.
The Rams are 5-3 in road games and 2-7 at home for an overall record of 7-10, 6-7 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. Four games remain for the boys, all of them on the road. Of those four, three are HOIAC games.
The Comets are 10-7 overall and 9-5 in the HOIAC.
It was another page in a long season for the girls as they lost 51-18 to take their record to 3-15 overall and 3-11 in the HOIAC.
The Comets played a full court press the entire first half, creating ball handling challenges for the Rams. The girls had 16 first half turnovers and scored just 10 points in the half. The Rams were down 30-10 at halftime.
They flirted with a continuous clock, with the Comets scoring the first 14 points in the second half for a 44-10 lead. In the second half, the clock runs continuously with a 35 point lead, but Hannah Promes put up a 3-point shot late in time to keep the clock running.
With the Comet reserves in the scoring pace slowed for the home team. The score was 46-14 at the end of the third quarter.
Nicole Rohner scored four points and Laurin Lyons, Kenna Marquardt, Promes and Taylor Wessling each scored three. Sunny Mobley added two points.
The Rams finished the game with 26 turnovers. Unofficially they shot at 16 percent while the Comets shot at 38 percent.
The Comets are now 11-4 in the HOIAC and 12-6 overall.
