The Paton-Churdan boys are only two games away from the state basketball tournament after a convincing 75-45 win Tuesday night in Guthrie Center over the Adair-Casey Bombers. The Rockets, now 19-3, will play Nodaway Valley (16-6) Thursday at 7 pm at Panorama High School in Panora.
The Rockets had beaten the Bombers twice during the regular season and dominated the entire game Tuesday. The Rockets scored three 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the game, while the Bombers were scoreless for the first six minutes. They finally scored on the second of two free throws to put their first point on the board, and added another two and a 3-pointer to finish the quarter, but the Rockets were up 21-6.
With six minutes to play in the second quarter the Rockets were up by 14 points, 25-11. That was the smallest lead the Rockets had for the rest of the game. The Rockets were up 44-21 at halftime and 62-29 after three quarters.
Junior Noah Juergensen led the Rockets in scoring with 24 points, including going six for six at the free throw line. Senior Colton Fitzpatrick scored 19 points with five 3-point baskets, well ahead of average of nine points per game, and senior Jake Carey scored 12 points with one 3-pointer. Freshman Jake Berns scored eight points, freshmen Joe Towers and sophomore Chase Juergensen each scored five points with one 3-pointer apiece, and senior Dylan Burgart scored two points.
As a team, the Rockets made nine of 16 3-point shots for 56 percent, 29 of 53 field goal attempts (54 percent), and eight of 12 free throws (66 percent). The Bombers shot at 39 percent and up only 43 2-point attempts. The rebounding statistics are telling: P-C had 11 offensive and 20 defensive rebounds while the Bombers had six offensive and 10 defensive rebounds. The Rockets’ stat sheet shows 16 assists, compared to the Bombers’ nine.
Noah Juergensen, Carey and Fitzpatrick all shot at 50 percent on 2 point shots.
The game against Nodaway Valley will likely be a good match-up. Nodaway Valley junior Jackson Lamb is the third highest scorer in 1A with a 24.8 points per game average. The next scorer on that team is senior Nathan Andrews at 12.0 points.
The Rockets have twin engines, with Carey averaging 18.7 points and Juergensen averaging 18.5 points per game. When teams focus their defense on Carey and Juergensen, Fitzpatrick is reliable to fill in a gap.
The winner of the P-C/Nodaway Valley game will be the District 13 champion and will advance to play the District 14 champion. Fremont-Mills, Tabor plays Sidney Thursday at Shenandoah for that district championship. The substate game will be Saturday at 7 pm at Atlantic.
Chris Stimson is head coach for the Rockets, assisted by Chris Petersen.
