Panthers make 14 threes in win over Boscobel

It was 24 years ago that the Iowa-Grant boys basketball team began the season 3-0.

Now a new run starts as the Panthers smoked Boscobel with a 40 point win, disposing of the Bulldogs 70-30 Friday. They got their 3-0 start.

The Panthers did it on both ends of the floor.  They catapulted to a 36-12 halftime lead with some deadly shooting and some smothering defense.

Starting with the defense...

Panther coach Shawn Dailey gives the assignment of halting the other team’s two top players to Landon Friesen and Sam Lundell.  It was no different Friday as Friesen shut down Kiptyn Brown, who averages 15 points per game to four free throws and Lundell put the clamps on Tyler Miller, who carries an 18 ppg average, holding him to one basket.

Meanwhile Lundell was helping the offense with 15 points and a trio of three pointers.

“Sam was outstanding on defense,” Dailey pointed out.  “He also continuers to shoot it well for us. He is playing with a ton of confidence and looks like he is having a lot of fun out there.”

“Landon is becoming our defensive stopper and usually guards the opposing teams’s best scorer,” Dailey said.  “He held one of their top scorers without a basket.”

Treaton Loeffelholz helped the Panthers put points on the board early with 12 of his 15 points the first half.

“I thought Treaton was very active on both sides of the court,” Dailey said.  “He has been rebounding for us all year at a very high level and is averaging 11 boards a game.:

Loeffelholz also enhanced his game with a trio of three pointers which was nice for Dailey and the Panthers to see.

“He is one of our best shooters and came into the game without a three,” Dailey said.

Top scorer for the game was Everett Zimmer who put in 18. He had nine each half and keyed the first half run with Loeffelholz. He also drilled four three pointers.

“Everett led us in scoring and was four for five for threes for the game,” Dailey said. “Everett is more about quality than quantity and he’s shooting a blazing 54% from three point range for the season. I can’t say enough about how valuable he is to our team and what a great leader he has become. It is such a joy to coach him.”

Tyler Schultz came off the bench and matched Zimmer’s four triples, finishing with 16 points.

“He is probably the best sixth man in the conference,” Dailey said.  “He is a gym rat and deserves everything that comes to him. He is shooting 50% on threes for the season.”

The Panthers buried 14 three pointers in the win. Their success ignited the crowd.

“We love playing at home and we really feed off our crowd,” Dailey said.

“I also like how unselfish this team is,” said Dailey. “No one cares who gets the credit. On any given night we have six players who could easily be our top scorer.  Our mindset has been to have fun out there and keep stacking up the wins.”

SCORE BY HALVES

Boscobel       12     18    30

Iowa-Grant  36     34    70

BOX SCORE

BOSCOBEL 30: (fg-ft-tp) Zart 0-0-0, Richter 2-0-4, Gunderson 1-0-2, Hill 0-0-0, Hehn 0-0-0, Molzof 3-1-7, Miller 1-0-2, Brown 0-4-4, Wayne 0-0-0, Kaumougantt 1-0-2, Knowles 4-1-9 Totals 12-6/18-30. Fouls-9

IOWA-GRANT 70: Schultz 6-0-16, Friesen 1-0-2, Lundell 5-2-15, Zimmer 6-2-18, Rickard 2-0-4, Fisher 0-0-0, Pettit 0-0-0, Collins 0-0-0, Lange 0-0-0, Wetzel 0-0-0, Loeffelholz 6-0-15, Baker 0-0-0. Totals 26-4/5-70. Fouls-16

3 point goals:

B-none

I-G-Zimmer 4, Schultz 4. Lundell 3, Loeffelholz 3