Cards are still searching for the right mix
RANDOLPH — The youth movement is taking its lumps with the Randolph boys basketball team this winter, at least so far.
After three games, the Cardinals are 0-3 having dropped decisions to Laurel-Concord-Coleridge (72-29) and at Ponca (64-32).
As per the early usual, it was rebounding and turnovers that were key in both outcomes, according to Randolph head coach Jim Hixson.
Against Ponca, the Cardinals were beaten on the board 33-16 and committed 23 turnovers.
“Collyn Beal had a nice night leading us with 14 points before going down with an ankle injury,” Hixson said. “Jacob Calder also was in double figures with 10 points. Jacob is our point guard and handles the ball most of the time.”
In the loss to LCC, the Bears used their familiar press to force 26 Card turnovers while Randolph also lost the battle of the boards, 22-12.
“With Collyn out, we had to rely on our other two seniors for scoring,” Hixson said.
Calder again was in double figures with 12 points while Tom Korth had a career-high 10 points on the night.
“After struggling with the press early, I was proud of how the boys slowed down and cut our turnovers down in the second half,” Hixson said.
The Cardinals will try to find some type of momentum against this brutal early schedule when they play host to Bloomfield Thursday and head to Wynot on Monday prior to the holiday break.
Randolph played C-2 Wakefield Tuesday so the challenges will remain on the docket for some time.
“We again will need to continue to cut down our turnovers and rebound better to have success,” Hixson said.
Calder said the team knows the schedule will ease up after Christmas and will use the experience to get ready for more comparable competition.
“It’s definitely important for us to still play well in these games,” Calder said. “I definitely think we can still more and there is more to come from this team. These two games, we needed rebounds. We weren’t boxing out and people got inside position on us. It’s stuff we work on every day that we can fix.
“Some of us gave up free rebounds and layups. It’s more about they were stronger than we were.”
Calder added that the younger players are working to accelerate their learning curves.
“We had the young guys come in to step up and I feel they are slowly getting into what we need them to do,” the senior Calder said. “I feel like we need to build chemistry with the young guys and we will be fine.”
Randolph
LCC
SCORING
Randolph - Jacob Calder, 12; Tom Korth, 10; Brayden Shearer, 4; Jake Harder, 3. LCC - Jake Rath, 19; Evan Haisch, 18; Deagan Puppe, 6; Tyler Olson, 6; Wilton Roberts, 6; Grant Erwin, 4; Lucas Rasmussen, 3; Markus Martin, 3; Carter Kvols, 3; Gibson Roberts, 2; Dylan Tayor, 1.
REBOUNDS
Randolph - Brayden Shearer, 5; Tom Korth, 3; Jacob Calder, 2; Shaw Backer, 1; Isaiah Salmon, 1. LCC - Jake Rath, 7; Evan Haisch, 5; Lucas Rasmussen, 4; Deagan Puppe, 3; Gibson Roberts, 2; Tyler Olson, 2; Carter Kvols, 1;
ASSISTS
Randolph- Tom Korth, 1. LCC - Carter Kvols, 1; Gibson Roberts, 1; Diloln Olson, 1; Evan Haisch, 1; Jake Rath, 1.
STEALS
Randolph - Brayeden Shearer, 2; Tom Korth, 1; Isaiah Salmon, 1. LCC - Grant Erwin, 4; Deagan Puppe, 2; Evan Haisch, 2; Gibson Roberts, 1; Wilton Roberts, 1; Jake Rath, 1; Lucas Rasmussen, 1; Markus Rasmussen, 1; Carter Kvols, 1.
