East triumphs in MRAC opener
By Terry Hersomthersom@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Saturday, December 13, 2008
So much of this is all new for Darian Davis, a senior transfer to East High who earned honorable mention all-state laurels as a junior last winter in Nebraska, playing for North Star High School in Lincoln.
Davis didn't need much background to recognize the prowess of the Western Christian squad he and the Black Raiders faced last Friday night in Hull, taking on a team that is projected to win a third consecutive Class 2A state championship.
"Not taking anything away from them, they're a very good team, but we made them look great,'' said Davis, reflecting on a 91-61 loss -- the type of shellacking Coach Jeff Vanderloo's East program rarely suffers.
Friday night, then, the Raiders sought to put that drubbing behind them. And, with Davis hauling down 13 rebounds to help his team dominate the boards by a whopping 43-22 margin, East opened up Missouri River Activities Conference play with a 63-49 win over Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson.
Davis, a 6-4 senior forward, also contributed nine points while East's only other seniors, veteran guards Taylor Pollow and Jordan Gentry led the way with 23 and 13, respectively.
"I'm the new guy,'' said Davis, whose father, Bill 'Hopper' Davis, started for three consecutive state tournament teams at North High in 1981, 1982 and 1983. The Stars finished fourth in '81, lost a state final to Davenport Assumption with four junior starters in '82 and took third in '83.
"I'm used to being the scorer, but I'm kind of the clean-up guy on this team, trying to do everything else like getting rebounds and assists,'' said East's newcomer.
Jeff Sponder, a 6-6 junior, hauled down 11 rebounds and East also got eight boards and eight points off the bench from 6-foot 9-inch freshman Adam Woodbury, one of three ninth-graders Vanderloo is carrying on his varsity roster.
"Rebounding is something we talk about every day,'' said Vanderloo, who is 2-1 early in his 17th season at the East helm. "We need to make sure we rebound as a team.''
Vanderloo, who takes the Raiders to Spencer for a non-league game tonight, is 240-120 overall as the Raiders' skipper and has pulled within four wins of the city's all-time winningest coach, Jim Hinrich, who went 244-239 in 24 seasons at West.
East led 19-12 late in the first quarter, but Thomas Jefferson, now 2-3, pulled within 19-17 at the end of the period, then enjoyed slender leads much of the second quarter after Trevin Taylor's three-pointer put the Yellowjackets ahead 20-19.
Tee Jay's 29-27 halftime lead grew to 33-28 early in the third quarter, but Gentry hit two three-pointers in a 12-2 surge that sent East in front to stay at 40-35.
It was still a tight 45-42 contest less than a minute into the final period, but two steals by Davis and one by Gentry helped East open up a 52-42 cushion.
A short time later, tempers flared briefly and a double technical foul was levied against Davis and Tee Jay's Austin Hennings, a 6-7 junior. A three-point play by Gentry and a bucket by Mike Krantz built East's lead to 57-43 and the margin was never less than 11 after that.
East's sophomores dominated 82-39 in the prelim contest as Alex Imming, another of the promising freshmen, led the scoring with 17 points. Jordan Menard added 11 points while Woodbury (in two quarters) and the other frosh, 6-6, 255-pound Dillon Godfrey, each chipped in 10.
THOMAS JEFFERSON (49)
Jeff Hempel 3-5 0-1 6, Neil Bryant 4-8 2-7 13, Austin Hennings 1-3 1-5 3, Trevin Taylor 4-10 4-6 13, Brederick Bryant 2-10 3-5 7, Jacob Hadan 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Korner 1-1 1-2 4, Jordan Sanford 1-1 1-2 3, Cole Millard 0-0 0-0 0, Jaymison Coffelt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 12-28 49.
EAST (63)
Darian Davis 4-8 1-2 9, Jordan Thomas 0-3 0-1 0, Jeff Sponder 1-3 4-6 6, Jordan Gentry 4-11 3-3 13, Taylor Pollow 6-10 9-10 23, Adam Woodbury 4-5 0-0 8, Quinton Behlers 1-6 0-0 2, Mike Krantz 1-3 0-0 2, Alex Kleene 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Moes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 17-22 63.
Thomas Jefferson 17 12 12 8 -- 49
East 19 8 18 18 -- 63
3-point shots -- Thomas Jefferson 5-13 (N. Bryant 3-5, Korner 1-1, Taylor 1-4, B. Bryant 0-1, Hennings 0-2), East 4-10 (Gentry 2-2, Pollow 2-4, Behlers 0-3, Davis 0-1). Rebounds -- Thomas Jefferson 22 (B. Bryant 5), East 43 (Davis 13, Sponder 11). Turnovers -- Thomas Jefferson 11, East 9. Total fouls -- Thomas Jefferson 23, East 20. Fouled out -- B. Bryant (2:04, 4th). Technical fouls -- Hennings (5:12, 4th), Davis (5:12, 4th).
Davis didn't need much background to recognize the prowess of the Western Christian squad he and the Black Raiders faced last Friday night in Hull, taking on a team that is projected to win a third consecutive Class 2A state championship.
"Not taking anything away from them, they're a very good team, but we made them look great,'' said Davis, reflecting on a 91-61 loss -- the type of shellacking Coach Jeff Vanderloo's East program rarely suffers.
Friday night, then, the Raiders sought to put that drubbing behind them. And, with Davis hauling down 13 rebounds to help his team dominate the boards by a whopping 43-22 margin, East opened up Missouri River Activities Conference play with a 63-49 win over Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson.
Davis, a 6-4 senior forward, also contributed nine points while East's only other seniors, veteran guards Taylor Pollow and Jordan Gentry led the way with 23 and 13, respectively.
"I'm the new guy,'' said Davis, whose father, Bill 'Hopper' Davis, started for three consecutive state tournament teams at North High in 1981, 1982 and 1983. The Stars finished fourth in '81, lost a state final to Davenport Assumption with four junior starters in '82 and took third in '83.
"I'm used to being the scorer, but I'm kind of the clean-up guy on this team, trying to do everything else like getting rebounds and assists,'' said East's newcomer.
Jeff Sponder, a 6-6 junior, hauled down 11 rebounds and East also got eight boards and eight points off the bench from 6-foot 9-inch freshman Adam Woodbury, one of three ninth-graders Vanderloo is carrying on his varsity roster.
"Rebounding is something we talk about every day,'' said Vanderloo, who is 2-1 early in his 17th season at the East helm. "We need to make sure we rebound as a team.''
Vanderloo, who takes the Raiders to Spencer for a non-league game tonight, is 240-120 overall as the Raiders' skipper and has pulled within four wins of the city's all-time winningest coach, Jim Hinrich, who went 244-239 in 24 seasons at West.
East led 19-12 late in the first quarter, but Thomas Jefferson, now 2-3, pulled within 19-17 at the end of the period, then enjoyed slender leads much of the second quarter after Trevin Taylor's three-pointer put the Yellowjackets ahead 20-19.
Tee Jay's 29-27 halftime lead grew to 33-28 early in the third quarter, but Gentry hit two three-pointers in a 12-2 surge that sent East in front to stay at 40-35.
It was still a tight 45-42 contest less than a minute into the final period, but two steals by Davis and one by Gentry helped East open up a 52-42 cushion.
A short time later, tempers flared briefly and a double technical foul was levied against Davis and Tee Jay's Austin Hennings, a 6-7 junior. A three-point play by Gentry and a bucket by Mike Krantz built East's lead to 57-43 and the margin was never less than 11 after that.
East's sophomores dominated 82-39 in the prelim contest as Alex Imming, another of the promising freshmen, led the scoring with 17 points. Jordan Menard added 11 points while Woodbury (in two quarters) and the other frosh, 6-6, 255-pound Dillon Godfrey, each chipped in 10.
THOMAS JEFFERSON (49)
Jeff Hempel 3-5 0-1 6, Neil Bryant 4-8 2-7 13, Austin Hennings 1-3 1-5 3, Trevin Taylor 4-10 4-6 13, Brederick Bryant 2-10 3-5 7, Jacob Hadan 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Korner 1-1 1-2 4, Jordan Sanford 1-1 1-2 3, Cole Millard 0-0 0-0 0, Jaymison Coffelt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 12-28 49.
EAST (63)
Darian Davis 4-8 1-2 9, Jordan Thomas 0-3 0-1 0, Jeff Sponder 1-3 4-6 6, Jordan Gentry 4-11 3-3 13, Taylor Pollow 6-10 9-10 23, Adam Woodbury 4-5 0-0 8, Quinton Behlers 1-6 0-0 2, Mike Krantz 1-3 0-0 2, Alex Kleene 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Moes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 17-22 63.
Thomas Jefferson 17 12 12 8 -- 49
East 19 8 18 18 -- 63
3-point shots -- Thomas Jefferson 5-13 (N. Bryant 3-5, Korner 1-1, Taylor 1-4, B. Bryant 0-1, Hennings 0-2), East 4-10 (Gentry 2-2, Pollow 2-4, Behlers 0-3, Davis 0-1). Rebounds -- Thomas Jefferson 22 (B. Bryant 5), East 43 (Davis 13, Sponder 11). Turnovers -- Thomas Jefferson 11, East 9. Total fouls -- Thomas Jefferson 23, East 20. Fouled out -- B. Bryant (2:04, 4th). Technical fouls -- Hennings (5:12, 4th), Davis (5:12, 4th).
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