Charger Boys Shoot Their Way to Win Over I-35

A solid night of shooting propelled the ACGC boys' basketball team to a 72-57 win over Interstate 35 last night on the Charger home court. The Chargers connected on twenty six of fifty shot attempts that included nine successful three pointers. First half shooting was particularly impressive with the team making sixteen out of twenty six field goal attempts.

The Chargers led all the way in this one, as they scored the first two baskets to take a 4-0 lead and built a 21-13 lead after the first quarter. Miles Kading was deadly from long range in the opening quarter, going three for three from beyond the arc. Kading connected on four three pointers for the game and led the Chargers scoring with 19 points on the night.

The younger Kading needed that kind of game, as senior brother Eli, who leads the WCAC in scoring average, was held to three points through the first three quarters. The Roadrunners gave their best defender, Cade Ward, the task of keeping Eli from having a big night. Ward was basically successful as Eli scored one free throw and one field goal through three quarters. Not to be outdone, Eli came up with ten fourth quarter points to finish with 13 on the night.

After a strong first quarter ACGC added twenty two points in the second stanza to increase its lead to 43-27 at the intermission. There was plenty of sharing the ball in the first half as six different Chargers split the nets for the home team.

The Chargers' shooting dropped off in the third quarter with just three made baskets and a total of seven points scored. The Chargers still were in control at 50-38 with one quarter remaining. The Roadrunners never got closer than thirteen points in the last quarter as the Chargers' accuracy picked up, making six of ten shots to close out the game.

For the second time this season all five Charger starters finished in double figures. In addition to Miles Kading's 19 points, Charlie Crawford scored 16, Lucas Marsh 15, Eli had 13, and Ben Marsh scored 12. A three pointer by Clayton Wardyn rounded out the scoring.

Lucas Marsh had a monster night on the boards, as he came down with 16 rebounds giving him a double double for the evening. Brother Ben dished out 5 assists, while Eli Kading led in steals with 3.

"Interstate 35 seemed determined to keep Eli from Getting the ball," Charger mentor Lance Kading said following the win. "When you lead the conference in scoring, you're going to get that kind of attention from opposing defenses. But that's just going to lead to more opportunities for our other guys. And as they proved last night everyone of them is capable of knocking down shots and having a big night. I thought all of our guys played aggressive, unselfish team basketball. And that was reflected in our shooting percentage."

The win improves the overall record to 6-2 for the Chargers that includes a 4-2 mark in conference play. The team will continue its home stand this weekend when it hosts Woodward-Granger on Friday and Ex-EHK on Saturday afternoon.

Score by Quarter:

I-35 13 14 11 19--57

ACGC 21 22 7 22--72

Individual statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) EKading (13-7-3-3) BMarsh (12-3-5-0)

Crawford (10-1-0-1) LMarsh (15-16-2-1) Mkading (19-1-3-2) Wardyn (3-1-3-2) Rogers (0-0-0-0)