Men’s Basketball: Raiders Split

PJ Davis dribbles the ball.
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December 10, 2023

The Central Community College men's basketball split a pair of games during the week of Dec 4. Recaps of both games are below. The Raiders are 10-4 on the season.

Game 1: Peru State JV 72  CCC 71

The Raiders built a 10-point lead over the Bobcats in the first eight minutes of the first half. Peru State then whittled CCC's lead down to four points, 23-19, at the 7:29 mark. The Raiders led at halftime, 35-31.

Peru State was persistent in the second half and took its first lead, 51-49, with just over 10 minutes to play on Josh Wickstrom's three-point bucket. CCC regained the lead some three-and-a-half minutes later on Frank Keller's layup which made the score 57-56. However, the lead was short-lived, but the Raiders still had a chance with one second remaining. The Bobcats were leading 72-71 when Quentin Wright missed a free throw and CCC's Blake Daberkow secured the rebound. Teammate PJ Davis (pictured) attempted a three-pointer at the buzzer, but it missed the mark and the Bobcats survived.

"I was very disappointed in our lack of energy," said CCC head coach John Ritzdorf. "We knew Peru was going to bring a talented team and I thought we were ready for it. But we played soft, timid and didn't step up and make plays when we had opportunities."

Davis led all scorers with 25 points while Daberkow logged a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Keller finished with 13 points.

Game 2: CCC 80  Iowa Central Community College 69

The Raiders built an early eight-point lead over the Tritons and later led by 11 points before leading 32-27 at halftime. CCC led by 15 points on two occasions in the second half en route to the 80-69 win.

Daberkow tallied a double-double for the second game in a row with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Davis also scored 17 points while Davis finished with 16 points.

"Our plan was to play inside out all game long and I felt like the guys did a pretty good job of following the plan," Ritzdorf said. "It was a really good bounce-back game for us after not playing very well on Tuesday."