The Humboldt Middle School Cubs season came to an end with a 42-22 loss to Caney Valley in the second round of the Tri-Valley Middle School Basketball Tournament.
Despite facing an uphill battle against a team who had twice defeated them by a large margin, the Cubs held their own early but could not keep pace with Caney Valley Tuesday.
“The first two times they beat us pretty bad, and Caney’s average margin of victory on the year was 42.7 points,” Humboldt coach Jeremy Weilert said. “I am really pleased at how we played in the first half. Great teams make their opponents make mistakes and that was probably the biggest factor in the game.”
Looking for the upset, Humboldt got off on the right foot with field goals by Elijah Irby, Mason Gunderman and Tate Thomas. Field goals by Thomas and Gunderman briefly gave Humboldt the lead in the second quarter. That was as close to victory as they would get as Caney Valley went on a 33-13 run in the second, third and fourth quarter to advance.
Irby finished the game as Humboldt’s leading scorer with eight points, followed by Thomas with seven, Gunderman with six and a free throw from Mason Mueller. Irby was a bucket short of a double-double with a team-leading 10 rebounds, followed by Waylon Johnson with seven and Gunderman with five. Gunderman also had three steals.
