The sixth ranked and undefeated Van Meter Bulldogs showed why they are so highly regarded last night as they topped the ACGC Chargers 67-41 in a game played on the Charger hardcourt. With 6'9" Ryan Schmitt anchored in the middle and backcourt players Anthony Pottoff and Spencer Lamb running things out front, the Bulldogs outscored the Chargers in every quarter en route to their eleventh consecutive conference win and fifteenth win overall.

The Bulldogs connected on seven of twelve shots in the first quarter to take command, 17-9, early on. ACGC shot well in the opening quarter, but only got eight shots off, connecting on four. That shot advantage for Van Meter continued throughout the night, as the Bulldogs put up sixty seven shots compared to the Chargers forty three. Both teams shot 37% for the game, but the extra twenty four shots for Van Meter meant eighteen extra points for the Bulldogs from the floor.

Continuing along those lines, the Bulldogs made eleven of thirteen free throws, while the Chargers shot just seven and made three of those. That meant an advantage of eight free throws for Van Meter. Add that to the eighteen point advantage in field goals and you get the twenty six point win for the Bullddogs.

But this is nothing new for the Bulldogs. One of the main reasons they are undefeated is because they frequently shoot many more shots than their opponents and make more free throws than their opponents attempt. It is a good formula for success. Of course it helps that they play an aggressive defense that makes it difficult for opponents to get many shots off, as well as creating turnovers for opponents. The Chargers have tried to pick up the pace in recent games to get more opportunities to score, but it was difficult to do against the quicker Bulldogs.

A bright spot for the Chargers was the performance of freshman Miles Kading. Kading, along with Bryce Littler, led the Chargers in scoring with 12 points. The younger Kading connected on 5 of 8 field goal attempts, including a pair of treys in three tries. Littler also shot well, making 5 of 9 field goals, with two of those being three pointers.

Quynton Younker led the rebounding with 6, while Lucas Marsh grabbed 5 boards. Miles Kading led in assists with 4. No one had more than two steals, and the team accounted for only three on the night. The Chargers committed fifteen turnovers which led to twenty two Bulldog points.

Despite the loss, this was not a crushing blow for the Chargers and should not realistically affect morale. Van Meter is one of the top teams in class 2A for the entire state. They have beaten ten opponents by more than twenty points, some by more than forty. The Chargers knew what they were up against. They gave it their best shot. Enough said! Go Chargers!

The game with West Central Valley scheduled for tonight has been postponed to Thursday, February 7. In the meantime the boys will travel to Woodward to face the Woodward-Academy Knights this Friday. A junior varsity match at 6 PM will precede the varsity tilt.

Score by quarter

Van Meter 17 23 17 10--67

ACGC 9 13 10 9--41

Box score REB

FG 3PT FT O-D AST STL TP

EKading 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Sargent 1-4 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 0 3

Nelson 0-2 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Marsh 1-7 1-4 0-0 1-4 1 0 3

MKading 5-8 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 2 12

Wierick 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Byars 0-3 0-1 3-4 0-0 0 0 3

Pauley 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Littler 5-9 2-3 0-0 1-3 2 0 12

Crawford 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Madsen 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Younker 3-8 0-3 0-1 2-4 0 0 6

Ure 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0