When one's opponent is shooting at a a 60% clip and you are shooting at a 31% rate, the odds are against you winning the game. So it was with the ACGC boys' basketball team last night in its 72-32 loss to Woodward-Ganger. The forty point loss matches the worst defeat of the season for the Chargers.

The Hawks wasted no time in establishing its dominance, racing to an 18-8 lead after the first stanza and never looking back. The Hawk lead increased each quarter until the final quarter was played under the thirty five point rule wherein when one team gains a thirty five point lead the game is played with a continuous clock thereafter. The entire fourth quarter was played with a continuous clock.

The Chargers could never get untracked, scoring no more than three baskets in any quarter and not scoring in double figures in any quarter. What seemed like an excessive amount of dribbling did not produce the desired result of a good shot, or very many shots. The Chargers lofted only thirty five shots for the game, connecting on just eleven for 31%. A scrappy man to man defense by the Hawks added to the Chargers' woes, as they turned the ball over twenty times, resulting in twenty eight W-G points.

The thirty two points scored by the Chargers marks a season low, as does the fifteen total rebounds. The six assists by the Chargers represents the second lowest output in that department. The Chargers did mange to make 6 of 7 free throws.

There just isn't very much that this observer saw that was positive for the Chargers. Every offensive possession was a struggle and the great shooting by W-G took ACGC out of the game by the midpoint of the second quarter when the Hawks had established a 25 to 11 lead.

Woodward-Granger is a very solid team with a season record of 15 wins and 4 losses, and finished third in WCAC play behind Van Meter and Des Moines Christian with a 13-3 record. They are the number two seed in the class 2A District 13 tournament which begins next week. A year ago they lost in the sub state final to Treynor. So the Charger opponent last night was no slouch, but a scrappy, talented team.

No Charger scored in double figures last night. Noah Sargent, Bryce Littler, and freshman Hunter Pauley each netted 6 points. Lucas Marsh led the rebounding with 4 boards. No one had more than 2 assists or steals.

The loss was the fourth consecutive for the Chargers and moves the season record to 5-15. The regular season will be concluded on Thursday of this week when West Central Valley comes to town for a WCAC game. The girls/boys double header will begin with the girls' game at 6 PM. Go Chargers!

Score by quarter

ACGC 8 8 7 9--32

W-G 18 19 21 14--72

Box score: REB

FG 3PT FT O-D AST STL TP

EKading 0-5 0-4 0-0 1-2 1 1 0

Sargent 2-4 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 6

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

Marsh 1-3 0-1 0-0 0-4 0 0 2

MKading 1-4 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 3

Byars 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 2

Pauley 1-3 1-2 3-3 0-0 0 1 6

Littler 2-4 0-2 2-2 0-1 1 0 6

Crawford 2-5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 4

Madsen 1-1 0-0 1-2 1-1 0 0 3

Younker 0-2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Grove 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Wardyn 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Ure 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0