Charger Boys Improve Record to 13-4 With 'W' over NV

The ACGC boys' basketball team faced a new opponent when it went up against Nodaway Valley last night in Greenfield. The Chargers had never played against the Wolverines, and neither did Adair-Casey nor Guthrie Center teams going back to at least the 2006-07 season.

Nodaway Valley was a basketball powerhouse in the first decade and a half of the current century (which included a state championship). Although NV is still a very respectable program, it has not been as strong in recent years.

Meanwhile, ACGC struggled to reach the .500 make in its first four years of competition. The current team has crossed the barrier and after its 51-40 win over the Wolverines last night the Chargers are sporting a nifty 13-4 record.

The Chargers started out with a bang, connecting on five of their first six shots, with each starter scoring one of the five baskets. ACGC held a seven point advantage after the first quarter at 16-9, but began the second quarter with a scoring drought that lasted for half the quarter. NV took the lead at 17-16 before Eli Kading broke the ice when he scored at the 3:53 mark of the quarter. Two treys by Clayton Wardyn provided s bit of a cushion and the Chargers went into the halftime break with a 26-19 lead.

After the intermission ACGC again experienced a slump, scoring only a single free throw in the first four plus minutes of the third quarter. After the Wolverines tied the score at 27 each, Wardyn once again came to the rescue with a high arching thee ball that split the nets and gave ACGC the lead for good at 30-27. At the end of the quarter the Chargers held a 34-29 lead.

Although the home team got within four points at 40-36, the Chargers made seven of ten free throws going down the stretch to preserve the win at 51-40.

"I felt this was our best defensive game of the season," ACGC mentor Lance Kading said after the win. "The energy and effort reminded me a lot of how we played in the second Panorama game. Its great to see this late in the season. If we can do that consistently to finish out the regular season, I really like our chances going into the district playoffs."

Eli Kading and Wardyn each scored in double figures for the winners, with Kading scoring 16 and Wardyn 10. Lucas Marsh led in rebounds with 9, while Charlie Crawford dished out four assists and Eli had 3 steals.

As a team ACGC made 17 of 50 shot attempts for 34% which included 7 from beyond the arc out of 26 tries. The Chargers went 10 of 15 from the free throw line for 67%.

The Chargers will be in action again tonight when they will entertain West Central Valley with game time slated for 7:30.

Score by quarter:

ACGC 16 10 8 17--51

NV 9 10 10 11--40

Individual statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) EKading (16-8-2-3) BMarsh (8-3-1--0) Crawford (3-2-4-0) LMarsh (7-9-1-2) MKading (5-5-2-0) Wardyn (10-3-0-0) Littler (2-2-0-0) Weinkoetz (0-0-0-0)