Big first half helps Barneveld Boys beat Albany

by John Dalton

In a Six Rivers East Conference game Friday night, host Barneveld’s tough defense led to turnovers and contested shots as they were able to convert several baskets from inside the paint, along with six, 3-point shots en route to a 44-16 halftime lead over Albany.  

Barneveld’s Nick Poad was responsible for three of those 3-point shots, and Kasey Helgeson had a huge first half, scoring 19 points in a game where nine players scored for the Golden Eagles. 

Barneveld Head Coach Tyler Sullivan, “Our guys did a great job preparing the last couple of days in practice on what we needed to do a better job of - getting the ball inside and pressuring the ball defensively.  We were able to use our ball pressure to take a lot of things away they were trying to do offensively, and either forced them into taking contested shots or turning them over in the first half.”  

“Offensively, we came out firing on all cylinders moving the basketball, pushing the tempo, and getting post touches.  We were able to take advantage of some mismatches inside, and that opened up the perimeter for lots of guys to knock down 3’s,” Sullivan went on to say.  

Nine players would score for Barneveld.  Helgeson led the way with 21 followed by Poad with 15.  Albany was led by Kaden Zurfluh with 14.  

The second half resembled more of the earlier meeting between the two when Barneveld narrowly escaped with a 36-34 win at Albany back in early December.  But Barneveld’s big first half was the difference in this contest.  

Coach Sullivan, “We lost a little bit of our edge the second half, got a little sloppy offensively, but ultimately we finished strong.  Great effort for our guys tonight, and big conference win!

Barneveld now shares first place in the conference with Pecatonica at 6-1.  Argyle is at 5-1.  Barneveld hosted Dodgeville Tuesday night in a non-conference game and you can read that story in this section.  

This Thursday night, Barneveld will travel to Pecatonica with first place in the conference on the line.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE

Barneveld 44 – 20 – 64

Albany      16 – 24 – 40

Barneveld (fg-ft-tp);  Helgeson 9-1-21, Poad 5-7-15, Marx 4-0-8, Shipman 3-0-7, Trenton Owens 1-1-4, Kramer 1-0-3, Griffin Owens 1-0-2, Fishnick 1-0-2, Kephart 1-0-2.

3-pointers; Poad 3, Helgeson 2, Trenton Owens 1, Shipman 1, Kramer 1.

Albany (fg-ft-tp); Zurfluh 5-3-14, Sertle 3-0-8, Durtschi 3-0-7, Patchen 2-0-6, Bakken 1-1-3, Stokstad 1-0-2.

3-pointers; Patchen 2, Sertle 2, Durtschi 1, Zurfluh 1.