Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich split two boys' high school basketball decisions last week. Both of them were relatively narrow two-possession non-conference outcomes. The Tiger boys initially handed Potter County a 73-67 setback there on February 20, but two days later dropped a 45-39 outcome to Waverly-South Shore in the Warner-Stratfords Lions Club Boys Classic. In that instance Ipswich senior player Jordan Richardt was awarded a Warner-Stratford Lions Club Senior Scholarship, announced during the game.

First of all, though, the Tiger boys got some impressive balanced scoring vs. Potter County. "The kids played hard last night," said Coach Tyler Severson the day after the game. No fewer than four Tigers climbed the double-figure scoring plateau, paced by Max Geditz and Josh McQuarie with 19 points apiece. (Geditz included three treys and McQuarie the other two.) Next was Will Kadlec with 14 points, followed by Ty Kadlec with 12 points. Ethan Gilbert tossed in seven points and Eric Severson contributed a basket.

The hosts were led by the game-high scorer, Dylan Drew with 25 points. Next was Seth Sharp with 18 points and Cooper Logan tallied 13 points. But only two other Battlers were able to score. They finished 30-59 from the floor, including four treys and a 3-7 free throw evening. Ipswich countered with a 28-55 shooting effort that featured those five treys. The Tigers added a 12-22 night at the line.

The game featured a 18-point Tiger lead at one juncture of the second quarter, as Ipswich had jumped out to a 26-11 first-quarter edge. The halftime margin also favored Ipswich 42-29, with the hosts starting to show signs of a comeback. They also out-scored Ipswich 21-14 in the third quarter, but Ipswich dueled its hosts 17-17 down the stretch to hang on for the win.

Ipswich was out-rebounded 37-30, despite seven by Will Kadlec and Gilbert was next with six boards. Ipswich committed only 11 turnovers, though; PC, 23 and 14 of those were from Tiger steals. McQuarie led that deparment with six thefts. He and Max Geditz each dished out five assists to open teammates. The Tigers totaled 21.

The following Ipswich vs. Waverly-South Shore game in Warner turned out to be just a little slower paced than the previous outcome. Ipswich trailed for quite a bit of the game, but always hung around within striking distance. For instance after trailing 17-12 after a quarter, the Tigers would grab a narrow 25-24 halftime edge, thanks to Taylor Thorson's rebound putback that just beat the halftime buzzer. And Will Kadlec initiated second-half scoring with a drive to the hoop for a brief 26-23 Tiger edge. That's because W-SS responded with a trey to even things up at 26-26. But Ipswich again went to Will Kadlec for a 28-26 Tiger advantage, which would later prove to be the Tigers' final lead. They only trailed 34-31 after three quarters, though, thanks to another Thorson basket. The Coyotes outscored Ipswich 11-8 in the final eight minutes for their eventual six-point lead.

Ipswich would receive 14 points from Will Kadlec that included one trey. He was followed by Ty Kadlec with eight points. (He fired in his team's remaining trey late in the game to still leave Ipswich a trey away and the Coyotes denied any further IHS rally attempts with three timely free throws.) Thorson would finish with six points, followed by McQuarie with five counters, Eric Severson with four points and Gilbert with a basket. The Tigers shot 15-50 from the floor that included those two treys and were 7-15 in free throw tries.

The Coyotes were paced by Sam Dalton with 12 points, followed by Carter Comes with 11 points. Aden Comes was next with nine points, almost achieving double-figure scoring status that day. They also obtained two three-balls in their total floor-shot effort and added a 11-19 free throw afternoon.

The taller Coyotes obtained 29 rebounds; Ipswich, 34. Ty Kadlec came away with eight boards to lead the Tigers in that phase of the game. And another bright spot was that Ipswich only sustained six turnovers compared to the W-SS 11. Ipswich collected nine steals, led by McQuarie's three.

That left the Tigers' record at 11-8 with a lone Friday evening LRC league match-up vs. Leola/Frederick scheduled for Friday evening in the Tiger Den that will finish out their regular-season schedule.

Region 2B play indeed begins Monday, March 2 with the eight and nine seeded teams playing at the home of the higher seed. The remaining teams including Ipswich will begin play on Tuesday, March 3. The final pairings were not available at press time, since the regular season is still in progress for most teams around the state. All Region 2B games begin at 7 p.m. at the home of the higher seeds, including the two March 6 bracket championship games. Those two survivors will advance to the SoDak 16 slated for March 10.