Clarinda Boys Basketball
Clarinda senior Noah Harris goes up for a layup Friday, Jan. 16, during the Cardinals' home win over Shenandoah. Harris scored all 10 of his points in the first half.
Clarinda sophomore Cooper Baumgart attacks the basket Friday, Jan. 16, during a Cardinal home win over Shenandoah. Baumgart scored 13 points.
Clarinda junior Ryan Wagoner shoots from outside Friday, Jan. 16, during a Cardinal home win over Shenandoah.
Clarinda senior Warner Schmitt looks for next part of the Cardinal offense Tuesday, Jan. 13, during a win over Atlantic.
Clarinda senior Aidan Johnson backs in Atlantic's Gavin McLaren Tuesday, Jan. 13, during a Clarinda win.
Clarinda senior Jordan Butt looks for a basket inside Tuesday, Jan. 13, during a home win over Atlantic.
CLARINDA — The Clarinda boys basketball team scored eight of the game’s final nine points and avenged a loss from earlier in the season with a 63-56 home win Friday over Shenandoah.
The win came after Clarinda led the entire first half, and by as many as 13. Shenandoah, though, come back to take the lead in the third quarter, and led by as many five nearing the midway point of the final quarter before Clarinda retook the lead, and won the game, with a 10-2 run.
“We talked about poise, discipline and believing in what we’re doing,” Clarinda head coach Frank Sefrit said after the game. “We never quit and never believed we were out of it. We kept our attitude and got through it. We relied on each other, trusted each other, made the extra pass and pushed the ball down the court in transition.”
Shenandoah head coach Luke Buttry called it a disappointing loss as the Mustangs, who are enjoying their best season in nearly a decade, fell to 8-5 overall.
"We have to bounce back,” Buttry said. “It’s probably a game we shouldn’t have lost but we come back and play Monday, Tuesday and Friday. We have to learn from it, not dwell on it and be ready to play.”
Shenandoah led by five after a Logan Twyman 3-pointer at the 4:17 mark of the fourth quarter, which was immediately preceded by a Brody Burdorf stuff block. The Cardinals came right back, though, with consecutive baskets by Nolan Wagoner, two of his three all night. After Burdorf scored, Clarinda ran off six points in a row to lead 55-52 with 1:34 to go.
Shenandoah’s Ryker Wolf came back with a triple on the other end to tie the game, but Sam Kline made a putback to put Clarinda back in front and then connected on two free throws with 32 seconds left to make it a two-score game.
After losing by five to the Mustangs in December, the Cardinals, especially the senior group, had been looking forward to getting another shot at their biggest rival.
“It was a great team effort,” senior Aidan Johnson said. “They got us over there and we had this one circled for a while. It was personal for us, and we wanted to get one for our crowd, for our culture, for our team.”
The win was the second of the week for a Cardinal team that had just two wins before Christmas Break. Senior Noah Harris said they are starting to figure some things out.
“We had some stuff that wasn’t working, and we have been losing,” Harris said. “But we have done some different stuff in practice, learned some new things and it’s working now.”
Sefrit said he’s proud of how his team has responded this season. After entering Christmas Break at 2-6, they are 3-2 in January with the win.
“We had struggled to find out who we were,” Sefrit said, “what we wanted to be and what our reality was weren’t the same. They have found that reality now and I give them all the credit. They have found a way to find out who they were and make themselves better. We’re starting to build with what we hoped we would be.”
The Cardinals started well, scoring 10 of the game’s first 12 points and leading by as many as 11 in the opening period.
Shenandoah cut the deficit to six on the first of three Ryker Wolf 3-pointers at the 3:09 mark of the second quarter. Clarinda, though, scored the next seven, to enjoy their largest lead, only to see Shenandoah score the final six before break.
Shenandoah opened the second half on a 13-3 run over a span of about 5 ½ minutes and Buttry said that started on the defensive end of the court.
“Our defensive intensity in the third quarter got us back in the game,” Buttry said. “Our defense in the first half wasn’t very good. We weren’t closing lanes as guys drove, and our help wasn’t very good on the back side. We gave them way too many easy buckets, but we picked it up in the third quarter and got a few turnovers.”
Kline scored 17 points to lead all scorers and added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Cooper Baumgart finished with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Harris put up 10 points, all in the first half, to go with six rebounds and two assists.
Johnson supplied seven points and two rebounds for Clarinda. Wagoner had six points and Ryan Wagoner five, along with three rebounds. Kaiden Roop finished with four points and two rebounds and Warner Schmitt scored one point.
The Mustangs also had three score in double figures, led by Carter Sells’ 15 points, to go with three rebounds and two assists. Wolf and Twyman added 10 points each with Twyman adding four rebounds and two steals and Wolf securing three rebounds.
Joey O’Rourke finished with nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks for the Mustangs and Burdorf added five points, six rebounds, four blocks and four assists. Gabe Buttry ended with three points while Cole Graham and Michael Blane scored two points each. Graham added three rebounds.
Clarinda improved to 5-8 on the season while Shenandoah fell to 8-5. The earlier meeting between the two teams was the one that counted in the Hawkeye 10 Conference standings.
Clarinda vs. Atlantic
Clarinda head boys basketball coach Frank Sefrit said it felt more like what he had hoped to see all season from his team Tuesday, Jan. 13, in a 59-47 home win over Atlantic.
It’s been a disappointing season so far for the Cardinals but after a slow start Tuesday, the Cardinals answered every Atlantic charge in the middle two quarters and then pulled away over the final eight minutes.
“The kids have been practicing super well since break,” Sefrit said, “but we just hadn’t put everything together. The kids are starting to come together a bit and now we’re starting to realize who we are. We’re the same team as last year but sometimes the complexity and the chemistry is changing, but (Tuesday) was the first night they came out and decided this is who I am.”
It started on the defensive end for the Cardinals, holding Atlantic’s leading scorer, Gavin McLaren to six points. While Hudson McLaren scored 18 and Kale Jensen added 17 for Atlantic, Clarinda’s top two scorers Tuesday, senior Sam Kline and sophomore Cooper Baumgart did their part as well.
“We had to be physical and stay in our gaps,” Kline said, “and communicate with each other. Focus on that and that helps a lot.”
“We ran some different defenses,” Baumgart added, “and I thought we executed at a high level, but there are still some things to work on.”
Kline scored 17 points and secured 13 rebounds while Baumgart ended with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The win is only the fourth for the Cardinals but the second in three games since Christmas Break. Sefrit hopes this is only the beginning for his team’s climb.
“We look at what our goals were going into this,” Sefrit said, “and see that this is what we accomplished, and this is what we didn’t. The looser we play, the better we play. On defense, we did a phenomenal job of communicating and working, So, it’s just us playing loose and carefree.”
Clarinda’s lead was just three at 41-38 going into the third quarter, and it was still just four just before Baumgart knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:39 to go, sparking a 13-4 run to end the game.
“I felt more confident shooting the ball,” Baumgart said, “and a lot of my shots were in rhythm, which helped a lot.”
Kline did a lot of his work inside. He scored Clarinda’s final eight points in the opening quarter.
“I haven’t been as aggressive this year as I was at the end of last year,” Kline said, “so I knew I had to help the team out. If I’m aggressive, that opens people up and I know I need to do that.”
Clarinda gained some cushion for the first time all game when Nolan Wagoner and Baumgart knocked down triples in the first 1:35 of the second quarter for a 20-13 Cardinal lead. From there, the game stayed between a seven-point Cardinal lead and a one-point Clarinda advantage until Baumgart hit two free throws with 1:56 left in the game.
It was a balanced effort offensively behind Baumgart and Kline with six different players combining to score 28 points.
“We had a lot of kids hit some big shots at big times,” Sefrit said, “and that’s what teamwork is about. They’re very unselfish and want to win. They figured that out tonight.”
Warner Schmitt and Ryan Wagoner scored six points each for Clarinda with Schmitt adding four assists, two rebounds and two blocks and Wagoner finishing with three steals, two assists and two rebounds. Nolan Wagoner finished with five points and three assists. Noah Harris and Aidan Johnson scored four points each and Kaiden Roop finished with three. Harris added two rebounds.
Clarinda vs. Maryville
The Clarinda boys basketball team scored just five points in the first quarter and, while never out of the game, the Cardinals also couldn’t close the gap in a 56-46 home loss Monday to Maryville.
The Spoofhounds led 12-5 after the first quarter, 23-18 at halftime and 39-33 entering the final quarter of play.
Warner Schmitt paced the Cardinals with 10 points while adding two rebounds.
Cooper Baumgart and Aidan Johnson added six points each. Johnson added six rebounds and Baumgart two rebounds. Noah Harris and Sam Kline produced five points each with Kline recording seven rebounds and Harris three assists and two rebounds.
Jack Kline and Jordan Butt scored four points each for Clarinda. Butt added two rebounds. Ryan Wagoner finished with three points, four assists and two rebounds. Nolan Wagoner added two points and Kaiden Roop scored one point.
