Hastings controls second half, topples Raiders

Central Community College's Thomas Johnson (23) pushes past Hastings JV's Jake Hansen (right) Sunday at the Raider Fieldhouse.
Central Community College's Thomas Johnson (23) pushes past Hastings JV's Jake Hansen (right) Sunday at the Raider Fieldhouse.

Posted: 11/2/14 • By Kyle Cummings / kcummings@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS -- The Raiders, playing in their first collegiate games this weekend, had to matchup against a larger, deeper and more experienced lineup in the Hastings JV squad Sunday at the Raider Fieldhouse.

Central Community College men's basketball coach Jerry Drymon isn't making any excuses, though.

"I thought they played a lot harder than we did," he said following the 84-59 loss. "When a team plays harder than you, you lose."

For a half, however, Central looked like the team working harder, using a gritty defense to take the lead two different times late in the first half.

"I thought defensively we were playing really well," Drymon said. "We were limiting them to one shot and offensively we were a little more patient."

After battling from a possession down through most of the half, Central finally took its first lead 11 minutes into the game, when Connor Long capitalized on a fast break layup and Bryant Kelly followed up with a 3-pointer to give the Raiders a 20-17 lead.

The Raider defense kept Hastings from breaking away as well, holding the Broncos to three points through about a three-minute stretch.

"There was an eight-minute stretch there in the first half we played as well as we've played all year, defensively," Drymon said.

Though the lead changed a total of six times during the first half, Hastings eventually broke away from the tie for good with Kendall Ferguson's layup with less than a minute to go in the half.

The 6-foot-5 Ferguson, who tallied 12 points in the game, coupled with the 6-foot-5 Calisto Nyumbura, who led all scorers with 19 points, caused headaches for the Raiders down low.

The Raiders were outscored 14-4 in the paint.

"We don't have a ton of size, so we do get wore down a little bit," Drymon said. "They were bigger and more physical than we were, so that's tough to overcome all the time if you aren't working super hard to negate that."

While the Raider defense kept Central within shooting position through the first half, it broke down in the second half, allowing the Broncos to shoot 55 percent from the floor.

Hastings JV opened the second half on a 9-1 run to take full control of the game.

"In the second half, we just didn't communicate very well and things we tried to get our guys to do on a day-to-day basis, we didn't do a very good job of," Drymon said. "It all boils down to the fundamentals of the game. If you don't do those well, you're not going to win very many games."

The Raiders failed to find any sort of momentum the rest of the way, falling in a 30-point hole before fighting back to an 84-59 final.

Columbus High graduate Stratton Discoe recorded six points for the Broncos in the win.

Shawn Robinson led the Raiders with 12 points, while Kelly added nine points.

Central hosts Cloud County Community College Tuesday.

Sunday at the Raider Fieldhouse

Hastings JV 32 52 - 84

Central (1-1) 30 29 - 59

* HASTINGS JV (field goals-free throws-fouls-points) - Alex Fahey 0-1-2-0-1, Caesar Teano 1-0-0-1-2, Ben Withkowski 0-0-0-1-0, Wes Spalding 0-0-0-3-0, Brady Barrett 1-0-0-0-2, Ty O'Brien 1-0-0-1-2, Jake Hansen 3-1-1-0-7, Ben Scheef 0-1-2-1-1, Derek Kissinger 2-0-0-1-6, Tyler Hedlund 4-0-0-3-11, Stratton Discoe 3-0-0-3-6, Creighton Buhr 2-0-0-2-5, Calisto Nyumbura 7-5-6-0-19, Kendall Ferguson 5-1-2-1-12, Matt Brown 4-2-2-0-10. Totals 33-11-15-17-84.

* CENTRAL - Shawn Robinson 4-3-5-3-12, Warol Gatdit 1-0-0-2-2, Bryant Kelly 3-1-2-1-9, Tyrone Clayton 2-0-0-2-6, Thomas Johnson 2-1-4-1-5, Connor Long 4-1-1-2-9, David Joachim 1-0-0-3-2, Tanner Fuelberth 2-1-2-1-6, Nietzche Jeantinor 4-0-1-1-8. Totals 23-7-15-16-59.

* 3-point field goals - Hastings JV 7 (Hedlund 3, Kissinger 2, Buhr 1, Ferguson 1), Central 6 (Kelly 2, Clayton 2, Robinson 1, Fuelberth 1).