YATES CENTER — The Humboldt Cubs hit hard and kept hitting Tuesday night in Yates Center, and the Wildcats never got back off of their heels.
The Cubs knocked off Yates Center 64-37, in a commanding victory.
“These kids are focused, and they’re playing well together,” Humboldt head coach David Taylor. “Everybody is scrapping, and they’re putting team first.”
Humboldt opened the first with a 9-0 run over the Wildcats, with key shots from Markiz Pulliam, Hunter Murrow and Caleb Vanatta. Robert Arnold ended the cold streak for the Cubs with a 1 for 2 foul shot attempt. Humboldt ended the first quarter up 22-5.
Not much seemed to change for the remainder of the contest. Kason Siemens heated up for the Cubs from long range, hitting two before the half and two after — he had four treys on the contest. The Cubs went into the half on top, 41-17.
“We didn’t do a lot of full-court pressure, but I was very pleased with our half-court defense,” Taylor said.
Another dominant quarter put the Cubs up 58-25, before a running clock put the Wildcats out of their misery in the fourth.
Siemens led for the Cubs with 19 points, 12 of which came from 3s, followed by Caleb Vanatta with 11 and Robbie Sellman with eight.
Drake Busteed had seven for the Wildcats, followed by Nick Schemper with six.
“I really like our team’s focus,” Taylor said. “For us, it’s not who we’re playing that’s important; it’s how we’re playing.”
The Cubs face off against Neodesha at home Friday, the Wildcats travel to Eureka.
Humboldt 22-19-17-6—64
Yates Center 5-12-8-12—37
Humboldt (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Vanatta 2-7-2-11, H. Murrow 3-1-1-7, Carpenter 1-4-4-6, A. Murrow 0-1-1-1, Sellman 4-0-3-8, D’Armond 1-0-4-2, Meins 2-2-1-6, Pulliam 2-0-3-4, Siemens 3/4-1-2-19. TOTALS: 18/4-16-21-64.
Yates Center (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): McGee 0-0-2-0, Mentzer 1-0-1-2, Chism 1-0-2-2, DeNoon 0-0-2-0, Schemper 1-4-4-6, McNett 0-2-3-2, Dice 1-1-4-3, Busteed 1/1-2-0-7, Arnold 4-2-4-10, Rossillon 0/1-2-2-5. TOTALS: 9/2-13-24-37.
