(Avoca) AHSTW is trying to run the table their first time through the Western Iowa Conference schedule. The Vikings boys basketball team has one foe standing in the way of that goal and it’s a good Tri-Center squad that they’ll face on Friday.
Ranked #2 by the AP, AHSTW is 10-0 on the season. They got a marquee win over Underwood earlier this week. Coach GG Harris shares how they got it done. “Resiliency. Trying to play one possession at a time. Making plays to put yourselves in a position at the end to maybe make one more play to win it. Jace Peterson had a huge shot. It was a thriller.”
Coach Harris says his team has done a great job of controlling their emotions lately and that was a key against the Eagles. “We really care a lot. For a young group and I can be a pretty emotional coach, but we are all getting better at not getting too high and not getting too low.”
There’s no time to let up with a 5-2 Tri-Center group coming to town Friday. “They are really good. We have to do a good job of instilling our style of play and tempo right away. They are super well coached with Coach Harter and Coach Cochran. They are a very experienced and mature team. We know we will have our hands full, but we are excited for the test. We are excited for the challenge.”
Raydden Grobe, Brayden Lund, and Kyle Sternberg combine for 91.6% of the team’s scoring, but coach Harris praises the play of the supporting cast. “I can’t talk enough about Cole Scheffler who handles the ball for us 85% of our possessions and controls the tempo on both sides of the floor. He has grown and matured and is really finding himself every day and every game. I’m very excited for that young man and the progress he’s made so far. I know he’s just going to keep growing. Nick Dennis is a freshman and if you would have asked me how we’d be with him I’d say we’d be alright, but he’s really turned things around for himself especially defensively with his presence on the floor. The kid just has a motor and will run through a brick wall.”
For a team that’s led by three sophomores and a junior, they’ve grown up quickly. “We are really taking a mature mindset. As long as the clock is ticking we are going to compete and these kids are going to work their tails off. And they are doing it for each other. Right now that’s what we are doing really well. We know we have to get more consistent with X’s and O’s and situations, but if that’s a staple of our competitiveness that’s a good staple to have.”
AHSTW has won seven of the last ten meetings against Tri-Center including three straight. Both of the Viking’s wins against the Trojans last year were by three points.
