Indians Claim First Win of Season

by Wade Steinlage

Oskaloosa–The Oskaloosa boys’ basketball team finally removed the proverbial monkey from its back by winning the first of hopefully many games this year.

The Indians (1-5) unfortunately had to suffer through two more losses before collecting that first ‘W’, falling to #5 Washington 75-63 in non-conference action Tuesday and then losing to Norwalk 74-49 in Little Hawkeye Conference play Friday.

OHS then ended a busy week by taking down Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Saturday with a score of 63-62. All three contests were played at home.

Washington 75, OHS 63

Despite their opponent’s lofty ranking, the Indians were not intimidated and played well against the Demons for the full 32 minutes.

Washington was up just 23-20 after the first quarter and held a 34-28 advantage at intermission. The Indians began to fall off the pace in the second half, but Keaton Flaherty and Waylon Bolibaugh kept their squad in it with 18 and 17 points, respectively.

Oskaloosa was outshot 49.1%-39.3%, including a 33.3%-20.8% mark from the perimeter. OHS also came up short at the line, being outscored 15-10. Flaherty pulled down eight rebounds, but the Indians fell in that department as well, 41-26.

The Indians did protect the ball well, committing only 13 turnovers, compared to 14 for the Demons. Carson Genskow and Will Schultz each notched three steals in the setback. Schultz added six points off the bench as did Aidan Scholes, while Genskow and David Nelson both tallied five.

Norwalk 74, OHS 49

Oskaloosa was unfortunately not able to play at that same level three nights later against the Warriors. Norwalk scored the game’s first 14 points and never looked back.

Flaherty was quite efficient en route to 15 points as he connected on five of his seven field goals and made five of his six free throws. The senior guided the hosts with six rebounds as well.

The duo of Bolibaugh and Nelson contributed nine points apiece, while Genskow and Jakob Stek managed six each. The quartet accounted for all nine of OHS’ three-pointers.

Overall, the Indians shot just 32.0%, while Norwalk was a steamy 63.4% from the floor. The Warriors were also nearly perfect at the charity stripe at 19-for-21; Oskaloosa was no slouch either at 8-for-10.

Despite being outrebounded 28-23, Oskaloosa outperformed Norwalk on the offensive glass at 11-4.

“Norwalk pounced on us from the beginning,” Head Coach Brandon Lenhart said. “They were very efficient on offense and were really tough and hard-nosed on defense. We did not have very good ball toughness and they bullied us, making it difficult for us to get anything easy all night.”

OHS 63, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 62

Oskaloosa sprinted out to an 18-7 lead after eight minutes of action and extended that lead to 38-21 by the midway point.

Unfortunately, E-B-F slowly chipped away at the advantage, getting within 11 entering the fourth quarter and eventually taking the lead in the waning seconds.

Flaherty, who had a game-high 32 points, put the Indians on his shoulders at the end, though, knocking down a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining and the Rockets could not answer on the other end as Oskaloosa escaped with its first win of the 2021-2022 campaign.

Flaherty was 11-for-21 from the field and made eight of his 11 free-throw tries. Bolibaugh joined him in double figures with 11 points, while Scholes just missed the mark with nine points, including a team-high three three-pointers. OHS was 9-for-20 from behind the arc in the win.

Nelson guided the Indians with seven rebounds, while Bolibaugh was the main distributor and defensive specialist with seven assists, three steals, and one block.

The Indians were victorious, despite being outshot 52.2%-47.9% and outrebounded 27-18. Both teams struggled with ball control as OHS had 16 turnovers and E-B-F committed 17 mistakes. The difference for OHS came from the perimeter (9-4 edge in three-pointers) and at the line; Oskaloosa was 8-for-11 (72.7%), while the Rockets were 10-for-19 (52.6%).

“This game was too close for comfort after us leading by 17 at halftime,” Lenhart said. “We had very few stops in the second half, which is a tribute to E-B-F and their coaching staff. Keaton Flaherty made some clutch free throws and we made enough plays down the stretch to get the win.”

Next Up: Oskaloosa is off until after the holiday break, returning to action on January 4 with a road trip to Pella for an LHC battle at 8 p.m.