Cards shoot down Central City

COLUMBUS - Boone Central's Anthony Michael may have come up a big in the fourth quarter, but his other five points during the rest of the game were the big momentum boosters.

Michael, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the final stanza, scored baskets at the end of the second and third quarters to help the Cardinals come away with a 62-43 win over Central City in the Class C1-6 subdistrict at Columbus High School. Boone Central will play No. 10 Wayne in the C1-3 district final at Norfolk High School Monday night.

In the second quarter, Boone Central held the ball for the final 1 minute, 51 seconds before Michael drilled a 3-pointer for a 27-20 lead. Then, he nailed a baseline jumper after the Cardinals stalled for the final 45 seconds to give them a 37-31 lead heading into the final period.

“Anthony let the game come to him,” Boone Central coach Chuck Perone said. “He waited for his opportunity to come. At the end of the two quarters, our kids executed our switch play perfectly. I think Central City knew it was coming but the kids switched the movements well and passed the ball well. Whenever you can get baskets at the end of quarters in that situation, (it) always helps.”

Brent Dawson started the scoring in the third quarter for the Cardinals with a layup to up the lead to 29-20. The Bison made a charge behind seven points from Matt Clausen in an 11-4 run.

Central City could have tied the game, but Sam Kuck missed two free throws, a running theme for the Bison as it 6 of 15 the rest of the game.

“Our free throws throughout the entire year have led to our losses,” Bison coach Justin Anderson said. “We had about five games where we shot under 50 percent and would miss them at key times during those games. If you do that, you are not going to win many ballgames.”

After Michael's basket at the end of the third period, he drained two 3s in a 9-1 run to build a 46-32 lead.

The Cardinals' defense made plays also as they blocked two Bison shots and forced six of the 20 turnovers in the final period. They scored 15 of their 25 points from the free-throw line to put the game out of reach.

“(Boone Central) just did a nice job of executing its offense at the end of quarters,” Anderson said. “We were right there in the fourth quarter, but all of a sudden things went south for us. They hit some 3s, and we missed free throws.”

Boone Central's execution was crisp against the Central City 1-3-1 zone defense and finished with just had eight turnovers.

“You have to play sharp against their defense because they are big for a high school team,” Perone said. “They have a 6-foot-10, a 6-9 and two 6-5 kids. Early in the game, we weren't as aggressive and were always around the perimeter. As the game went on, we attacked it better, and the more shots we made, the more aggressive we got.”

On Monday, the Cardinals hope the third time will be the charm against Wayne. The Blue Devils won 52-45 on Jan. 6 and 55-46 in the consolation game of the Mid-States Conference Tournament.

“The most important thing for us (against Wayne) is to continue to play with confidence,” Perone said. “We haven't played with a lot of confidence this year. Tonight, we had maybe one or two little bad spots, but boy did we exhibit a lot of confidence in the way we played.”

Central City (12-8) 10 14 11 12 - 43

Boone Central (15-8) 8 19 10 25 - 62

n Central City-Kyle Nelson 0 0-0 3 0, C.J. Killin 0 1-4 4 1, Dustin Schuller 1 0-0 1 2, Matt Clausen 60-0 4 13, Sam Kuck 2 2-6 5 6, Aaron McCoy 2 0-1 4 6, Kraig Charron 5 3-4 1 13, Chad Benner 1 0-0 0 2.Totals 18 6-15 23 43.

n Boone Central-Mitch Koch 0 2-2 1 2, Ryan Shotkoski 3 6-8 1 14, Kraig Flanagan 2 2-2 5 6, Brent Dawson 4 6-8 2 14, Jordan Temme 1 0-0 0 2, Anthony Michael 4 6-7 2 17, Andrew Brugman 3 0-0 1 6. Totals 17 23-29 12 62.

n 3-point goals-Central City 1 (Clausen), Boone Central 5 (Michael 3, Shotkoski 2).