The Turkey Valley Trojan boys basketball team is going to run a gauntlet to get to the end of January – the heart of the prep basketball season in the state of Iowa.
John Izer’s Upper Iowa Conference boys hoops team will play three games in four days for three consecutive weeks.
The Trojans (5-6, 3-5 UIC) hung tough through week one of the “meat grinder” and came away with two victories versus West Central (1-11, 0-7 UIC) and Riceville (5-7). The end of the week saw the Trojans travel to Postville Friday and get down by more than 20 points early, only to storm back to cut the contest to a one possession game early in the fourth quarter.
But, in the end, a week’s sweep of games would be denied by the Pirates as there was just no gas left in the tank for Izer’s young squad.
“Right now we’re just trying to win games and we put it all into the Riceville game and we had heavy legs for Postville,” said Izer.
TV was 1-4 at one point during the season but has now won four out of its last six games.
TV blitzed West Central in Maynard last week Tuesday by a score of 72-41. Then the Trojans took down Riceville on Thursday, 69-64, before succumbing to Postville an evening later on Friday on the road, 60-52.
“We’re so young we had to learn how to win,” said Izer. “Then I believe we have to learn how to win after we win.”
The Trojans scored a season-high point total against the winless Blue Devils on their home court. TV junior J.D. Kruse was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line and led all scorers with 21 points. Logan Busta, another junior forward for Izer, cranked out 17 points. He snared seven rebounds and came up with five assists and five steals.
“I told them we were 20 points better than them and if we win this game by 12 we would be disappointed. We went over there and just took care of them,” Izer said of the win the West Central. “It was a great win. We played a good game. We were rolling right there.”
Kruse again had an outstanding game versus the Wildcats with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Busta notched 19 points and sophomore forward Jordan, Kriener followed up his 10-point performance versus West Central with 14 points versus Riceville. Kriener hit for 14 points again versus Postville and in the three games last week he was 18-28 from the field –that field goal percentage was a sizzling 64 percent.
Kruse tallied 15 points against Postville and ripped down 13 rebounds.
The Trojans trailed Postville, (4-8, 3-5 UIC) by 22 points in the first half, but closed to just three points early in the final period and had the ball. TV could not convert on that possession and Riceville would go on to score on the ensuing possession to widen its lead.
Turkey Valley 24 18 13 17 32
West Central 7 16 4 14 41
Scoring – JD Kruse 21; Logan Busta 17; Cale Langreck 11; Jordan Kriener 10; Jayden Rausch 7; Treyton Franzen 4; Tucker Reicks 2
Rebounds – Kruse 8; Busta 7; Franzen 6; Langreck 4; Kriener 4; Reicks 4; Miguel Diaz 2; Alex Hanson 1; Kaden Schmidt 1; Assists – Busta 5; Langreck 2; Franzen 1; Rausch 1; Jonah Orvis 1; Reicks 1; Steals – Busta 5; Kruse 4; Kriener 2; Franzen 1; Schmidt 1; Blocks – Langreck 1
Riceville 20 15 13 16 64
Turkey Valley 12 23 19 15 69
Scoring – Kruse 20; Busta 19; Kriener 14; Franzen 6; Rausch 5; Langreck 4; Reicks 1
Rebounds – Kruse 10; Kriener 7; Busta 6; Franzen 4; Langreck 2; Rausch 2; Reicks 1; Assists – Busta 3; Kruse 3; Langreck 2; Kriener 2; Steals – Busta 3; Kruse 3; Kriener 2; Franzen 1; Rausch 1
Turkey Valley 9 14 17 12 52
Postville 18 23 5 14 60
Scoring – Kruse 15; Kriener 14; Langreck 9; Busta 8; Franzen 3; Rausch 3
Rebounds – Kruse 13; Kriener 9; Busta 7; Franzen 4; Langreck 2; Rausch 2; Hanson 1; Reicks 1; Assists – Langreck 3; Busta 2; Kriener 2; Kruse 1; Franzen 1; Rausch 1; Steals – Busta 2; Kriener 2; Kruse 1; Rausch 1
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