Glenwood bounces back for big win

A key 7-0 fourth quarter run turned a 41-41 game into a 48-41 Glenwood lead the Rams would never relinquish in a 57-55 Hawkeye 10 Conference victory over Class 3A, No. 3 ranked Harlan Saturday night in Glenwood.

“We go on that run and I’ll tell you what, the kids had real poise and really took good care of the basketball in that fourth quarter,” said Glenwood coach Curt Schulte. “We knocked down free throws when we needed them and Andrew Blum had a whale of a ball game in the fourth.”

After three quarters, the Rams led 39-37 but the Cyclones got a three to take a 40-39 lead. The Rams, however, wouldn’t fold under the pressure of trailing for the first time since early in the game. A pair of jumpers by Blum and then a three pointer, as part of a 9-1 Ram run, gave Glenwood a 48-41 lead with just over three minutes to go.
The Cyclones were forced to play catch up the rest of the way.

Glenwood hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch but led just 55-52 with 16 seconds on the clock. Blum once again came up big for the Rams, this time finding freshman Christian Stanislav streaking down the court for a layup to put Glenwood ahead 57-52 with less than 10 on the clock. The Cyclones’ Kyle Juhl hit at three at the buzzer but Glenwood walked away with the win.

“This was a heck of a battle but we got it done,” Schulte said.

The Rams shot 55 percent from the field and 9-of-10 at the line for the game.

Defensively, the Rams limited Harlan to 55 points – just one point off a season low and nine points below their season average.

“We played straight man and did a good job identifying their shooters,” Schulte said. “Carter Von Essen did a great job on their top scorer, Kyle Juhl. He got most of his points late so for the most part, Carter and Aaron Bertini did a great job slowing him down. I thought we played great team defense and rebounded well.”

The win puts Glenwood in to a two-way tie with Kuemper for second place in the conference standings. Harlan maintains a slim half game lead over both.

Nate Mohr scored a game-high 21 points for Glenwood. Blum added 13 points – seven coming in the final frame – and 10 rebounds.

Juhl led Harlan with 19 points.

C.B. St. Albert 61,
Glenwood 52

Council Bluffs St. Albert avenged a December loss at Glenwood with a 61-52 win Friday in Council Bluffs.
The Falcons went 9-of-9 at the free throw line over the final few minutes to ice the win.

Travis Miller led St. Albert with 19 points.

Nate Mohr led Glenwood with 16 points.

Glenwood 75,
Atlantic 65

Glenwood had four players in double-figures and avenged an early loss to Atlantic with a 75-65 Hawkeye 10 Conference boys basketball victory last Tuesday in Atlantic.

“This was a tough one on the road,” said Glenwood coach Curt Schulte. “We had good balanced scoring and defensively I thought we were really solid.”

The Rams (9-2 overall, 5-1 in the conference) closed the first half on a critical 8-0 run to take a 28-25 lead at halftime. Glenwood would continue its run into the third quarter, leading by as many as 11 in the frame, before the Trojans rallied to cut the margin to 47-40 heading into the fourth quarter.

Atlantic briefly cut the lead to five with less than five minutes to go but that was as close as they would get.
Schulte said his team’s defense was the difference in the conference win, as opposed to what the Rams did in their Dec. 15 loss to the same Trojans. The coach specifically commended the defense of Kobe Rhodes and Drake Harrington on Trojan leading scorer Garrett Franken. Schulte had the two 5-foot-11 guards split the duty of face-guarding the 6-foot-7 wing much of the game and it worked. The junior all-conference player was limited to 2-of-11 shooting from the field and nine points, eight below his average.

“They did an excellent job on him on the defensive end making sure he didn’t get comfortable,” Schulte said. “He likes to play on the perimeter and we felt we could give up that size (difference) because he doesn’t post up a whole lot. We felt we had more quickness than them.”

The Rams also finished with a 32 to 25 rebounding edge.

In it’s five conference wins the Rams have averaged better than 74 points and had four players reach doubles figures in scoring in each game.

Nate Mohr led four Rams in double-digits Tuesday, scoring 25 points and dishing out eight assists.

“He’s a floor general for us,” Schulte said of his sophomore point guard, who recorded just one turnover on the night. “He gets us into things, he’s such a good ball handler and he knocked down free throws. That was key for us in a close ball game. I was real proud of his efforts. He came up big for us.”

Andrew Blum added 16, Connor Weis 14 and Christian Stanislav 10.

Ryan Hawkins kept the Trojans in it with 27 points and 12 rebounds before falling out late.