The No. 7 Remsen St. Mary’s boys basketball team came away from Le Mars with a very low-scoring 30-27 win over Gehlen Catholic to remain in the lead in the War Eagle Conference.
The halftime score was 19-16 in favor of Gehlen after the Jays took a 9-0 run into the locker room. It is not very often that the Hawks are upset with giving up 19 points in a half, but co-head coach Justin Ruden says the points the Jays did get came too easy.
Gehlen’s rebounding kept them in the game getting a host of second-chance opportunities. Gehlen Catholic head coach Ryan Wiltgen says the guys were showing good intensity on the boards.
Once the second half started, the defenses settled in for a long battle. Both teams switched into zone defenses which naturally lend themselves to lower-scoring games. Coach Wiltgen says the length of the Hawks’ zone defense gave his guys problems.
That RSM zone defense held the Jays to just two points in the first 14-and-a-half minutes of the second half. The Hawks struggled to score too but put just enough on the board for the win. Coach Ruden says the exaggerated low score was highlighted even more by both teams’ inability to shoot from the outside.
The Jays fell to 12-7 on the year and 6-2 in the War Eagle Conference with the loss. Remsen St. Mary’s improved to 14-3 on the year and 8-1 in the conference with the win. The Hawks have a few more tough games ahead of them to try and lock up a top seed come tournament time. Coach Ruden says it will take a lot of work to get where this team wants to end up.
The Hawks are back in action at Spirit Lake on Tuesday, February 4. Gehlen Catholic hosts West Sioux also on Tuesday in their penultimate game of the season.
