Indians get revenge on Norwalk 73-58
Senior Jack Moore lead the Indians with 20 points against Norwalk on Friday night.
by Doug DeKock
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It has been said that character is built through tough times. The Oskaloosa boys’ basketball team has been through some tough times the last few weeks so it was going to be interesting to see how they would respond after being blown out by 31 at Newton Tuesday night. Respond they did, blowing out a Norwalk team that beat them earlier in the year by 1 point. The final score was not indicative of just how dominating the Indians were Friday night. Oskaloosa led by as many as 26 while they were blistering the nets shooting 63%. Four players scored in double figures to go along with 8 blocks in the game. The Oskaloosa defense was as good as it has been all year, frustrating Norwalk’s dynamic guard duo of Luke Vaske and Bowen Born. Both teams were on fire in the 1st quarter as Born scored 7 quick points out of the gate. He was offset by Oskaloosa senior Jack Moore who continued his strong senior season with 20 points in the game. The high scoring 1st quarter ended with the Indians holding a three point lead 20-17. The second quarter would possibly be Oskaloosa’s best all-around of the whole season. Moore continued to score but was joined by his other “bigs” Jarad Kruse, Cole Henry, and Xavier Foster. The Indians aggressively attacked the rim for easy baskets against the Norwalk defense. Sophomore Rian Yates provided some outside shooting when the defense tried to sag back, which opened things up again. Oskaloosa’s defense was fantastic in the 2nd quarter limiting the Warriors to only 6 points in the quarter and they took a 40-23 lead into halftime. Norwalk was unable to close the gap in the 3rd and Oskaloosa extended a 17-point lead to 18 after 3 quarters 53-35. The Indians had it pretty well wrapped up at this point and put it on cruise control in the 4th. Oskaloosa led by 20 with less than a minute to play before Norwalk scored 5 points in the last few seconds. The 73-58 win was sweet revenge for a controversial 1 point loss in Norwalk.
Moore led the Indians with 20 points while Cole Henry was right behind with 17 points and 6 rebounds. Xavier Foster and Jarad Kruse were next in line with 12 and 11 points respectively to go along with 6 rebounds also. Yates continued his hot shooting with a couple of 3s for 6 points and 3 rebounds. Spencer Tucker chipped in 5 points also. If the Indians play at this level they will have a shot at making the state tournament. Their turnovers were below 10 at 9 and their defense was much better. It was nice to see them break out of a shooting funk also by hitting 63% on the night. Oskaloosa improves to 9-7 overall and 4-7 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Norwalk drops to 9-9 overall and 5-7 in the conference. The Indians host Albia Saturday after the girls’ game and hope for a little payback after last year’s disappointing loss in Albia. The Indians are then at Pella on Tuesday and host Indianola on Friday.
