Hawks Suffer Third Straight Hoops Loss

OUTSCORED BY ICA 19-2 IN FIRST QUARTER

A poor start against Iowa Christian saw East Greene trail 19-2 after the first quarter and go on to lose 46-32 in boys hoops action Tuesday night, Jan. 10, in Urbandale. The game was a “home” game for Iowa Christian, but since the school has no gymnasium, the game was held on the home court of Des Moines Christian in Urbandale.

The outcome is regarded somewhat of an upset, as the Hawks had easily dismissed of the Trailbazers, 54-34, in the season opener on Nov. 29 in Rippey. ICA’s 14-point win was a 34-point turnaround.

“We couldn’t get the ball in the basket,” said Mark Renslow, assistant coach. Along with the shooting woes, the team had problems passing the ball.

The Hawks did bounce back to outscore Iowa Christian 30-25 the rest of the game, but they had dug themselves too big of a hole in the disastrous first quarter. “The kids just gave up,” said Renslow. “We just quit on ourselves and the team.”

EG cut the gap to 23-10 at the half and both teams scored 12 points in the third stanza, allowing ICA to maintain a 35-22 advantage. EG outscored the Blazers 12-11 in the last period, but it wasn’t enough, as Iowa Christian prevailed, 46-32. It was EG’s worst offensive game of the season.

Alex Gordon, EG’s top outside shooter, had an off night, hitting just 2 of 21 shots, and Wyatt Beaman, a starting guard, was not available for the game.

One bright spot was the continued solid play of center Reed Ostrander, who scored 19 points, pulled down 17 rebounds and blocked 7 shots. Ostrander was 9-15 in shooting and was good on his sole 3-point attempt. The Hawks connected on just 15-52 shots (29%) with most of the misses coming from 3-point range (2-29). The Hawks had no free throw attempts.

The loss hurt EG’s seeding for the upcoming district tournament, which is based on a team’s win-loss record from games 5-15. The Hawks started out the season 1-3 but then went on a four game winning streak, to give the Hawks a 4-0 seeding record starting with its fifth game. Even two losses to two of the strongest teams in the Rolling Hills—Adair-Casey and Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton—still left the Hawks at 4-2 for seeding. But the upset loss to ICA and with conference co-leader CAM coming to Rippey on Friday, it looks like the Hawks could lose their fourth straight game and drop to 4-4 in the seeding.

“Starting today, we consider ourselves 0-0 and will work hard in practice to get this ship righted,” said Renslow.

CAM brings a 10-2 season record to Rippey on Friday. CAM and Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton are tied for the league lead with 9-1 records. EEHK, whose lone loss is to CAM, is looking to win its second straight Rolling Hills crown and make a repeat trip to Class 1A State Basketball Tournament in March.

Rolling Hills Conference Boys Basketball

CAM (Anita) 9-1
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 9-1
Ankeny Christian 8-2
Adair-Casey 7-3
East Greene 5-5
Iowa Christian 4-6
Orient-Macksburg 3-7
Walnut 3-7
Glidden-Ralston 2-8
Paton-Churdan 0-10

Tuesday, Jan. 9, Scores:
ANK 69, PC 33
CAM 55, OM 48
ICA 46, EG 32
WAL 69, AC 58
EEHK 74, GR 43