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Randolph boys fall to Wausa Vikes

RANDOLPH — With hopes of a breakthrough, the Randolph Cardinals looked forward to a visit from rival Wausa last week for an old-fashioned basketball brew-ha-ha.

However, the Vikings pulled away from a close game early on and left town with a 55-35 win as the Cardinals fell to 0-12 this season.

Collyn Beal had 15 points while Jacob Calder added 11 counters.

“We really played pretty well early, only being down one after the first quarter,” Randolph coach Jim Hixson said. “Wausa was able to make a run in the second quarter to stretch the lead to eight at halftime. We again took good care of the ball, only turning it over 11 times.”

However, Randolph lost the rebounding battle 28-24 and were only able to hit 26 percent of its shots compared to Wausa’s 47 percent.

“Our point guard got in foul trouble which really hindered our offense,” Hixson said. “All season we have been working on holding our turnovers down and rebounding better. We did those two things but again our shooting let us down. We will again focus on rebounding and holding down our turnovers along with continuing to work on improving our shooting.”

The Cardinals played Winside Tuesday and will play Stanton at home Friday.

“I think we can be competitive in both contests,” Hixson said. “With SubDistricts coming up, as all season, we will strive to not turn the ball over and rebound. Our shooting will have to improve to have success.”

Calder said the loss to Wausa was a disappointment after a rough week of practice that saw a number of Cardinals sit out due to illness.

“Wausa is a good team, and we came out and did our best and that’s all we could do,” Calder said. “It hurts worse because the rivalry goes way back. We didn’t shoot the ball very well and we didn’t have too many turnovers. We went on a couple of runs.”

“We are hanging in there. We feel that we have Winside coming up again and we can beat them. It’s rough, but coach is always telling us to keep our heads up and keep going because we’ll get something down the road,” Calder said.

Calder said the issues that have kept the Cardinals out of the win column rest with the team’s shooting prowess and ability to get quality looks.

“Sometimes we get the shots we want, and they don’t fall and sometimes we just force shots,” Calder said. “Coach Hixon always says he doesn’t like one-pass threes and we sometimes do that.”

Calder said he can feel a win coming.

“I feel like Tuesday is going to be it.”

Wausa 7 19 17 12 — 55

Randolph 6 12 10 7 — 35

SCORING Wausa – Jaxon Claussen, 25; Jon Nissen, 13; Addison Smith, 8; Brandon Kristensen, 5; Josh Wattier, 4. Randolph – Collyn Beal, 15; Jacob Calder, 11; Shaw Backer, 3; Tom Korth, 2; Isaiah Salmon, 2; Brayden Shearer, 2.

REBOUNDS Randolph – Collyn Beal, 7; Jake Harder, 7; Brayden Shearer, 5; Jacob Calder, 3; Shaw Backer, 1; Isaiah Salmon, 1.

ASSISTS Randolph – Collyn Beal, 1; Jake Harder, 1.

STEALS Randolph – Shaw Backer, 1; Collyn Beal, 1; Jacob Calder, 1.

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