(Elk Horn) The Exira-EHK boys go for a season sweep of CAM Friday night. We’ll have the game on KSOM.
It took overtime to decide a winner when they hooked up in Anita. Trey Petersen forced OT with a buzzer beater and the Spartans prevailed 71-61. Connor McKee and Colby Rich are CAM’s top scorers. Coach Newton discusses the defensive strategy involved with those two. “I’m open for suggestions. I’d suggested to Connor McKee that he graduate at semester, but he didn’t take my advice. Connor has every move in the book. He’s athletic, he can shoot it, he can run, he can jump, he can pass. He’s a handful and we’ll probably start with Trey Petersen on him. Colby Rich is such a matchup problem. He’s big so if you put a smaller guy on him the contact doesn’t bother him when he is driving. If you put a bigger guy on him he can go outside and put bigger defenders out of their comfort zone.”
Newton admits his team still has some things to brush up on before tourney time arrives. “We are stilly trying to get the whole team defense concept ironed out a little bit. We do some good things a few possessions in a row and then we’ll come down the next possession and be out of position and have to scratch our heads and figure out why. When we are talking and communicating and rotating we don’t do too bad of a job.”
Freshmen have combined for 35% of Exira-EHK’s scoring this year. Cash Emgarten and Jackson Radcliff average over seven points per game. “These guys are really talented. Some nights they look like freshmen and some nights they look really, really good. That’s just kind of how that works and it’s just part of growing up…They are having to learn a lot on the fly and for the most part they are doing a pretty good job of it.”
Exira-EHK goes into play on Friday with a record of 9-8. CAM is 9-7.
