Indians Suffer Loss At The Hands Of Norwalk
Oskaloosa Indians
by Jamie Brockman
The top-ranked Oskaloosa Boys suffered their first loss of the season at Norwalk on Tuesday falling 58-46. After playing their best game of the season with all cylinders clicking at Eddyville Saturday, the Indians came out very flat and looked out of sorts as Norwalk exploded to a 24-9 lead after one quarter. The Indians offense was nonexistent throughout the quarter and defensively couldn’t slow Norwalk Junior Bowen Born who was on fire scoring 14 first quarter points. The Indians looked rejuvenated in the second quarter, however as the game flow tilted to the Indians favor outscoring the Warriors 16-7, helped in part by the long-range shooting of Austin Hafner, who connected on three 3 pointers to spark the offense. After taking their punches in the first quarter, the Indians pulled to within 31-25 at halftime. The Indians power trio of Cole Henry, Xavier Foster, and Rian Yates were limited to just eleven combined points in the half (Henry 4, Foster 5, Yates 2) but Oskaloosa had the momentum heading to the locker room.
Unfortunately for the Indians, the third quarter looked much like the first quarter as Norwalk jumped to a 50-32 lead, their largest of the game, heading into the final eight minutes. Every time Oskaloosa would get anything rolling, Norwalk answered on their way to the 58-46 win. Xavier Foster, who was impressive all night defensively with several blocked shots, was much more productive offensively in the second half, finishing with 15 points, however the other scoring leaders for Oskaloosa, Henry and Yates were held scoreless in the second half finishing with four and two points respectively. Austin Hafner and Noah Van Veldhuizen combined to drain five 3 pointers as Hafner finished with nine and Van Veldhuizen six. Isaac Schultz scored five, while Tyler Miller added two. Coach Ryan Parker did not speak to the media following the game. Oskaloosa fell to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the Little Hawkeye Conference, get back to work Wednesday and Thursday in practice to prepare for Pella who visits on Friday night.
Oskaloosa will have to be ready as they host Pella on Friday in their final game before the holiday break. Pella is 5-2 and coming in confident fresh off their 88-60 win over Newton on Tuesday (Oskaloosa beat Newton 71-58). The Dutch also beat Norwalk 84-66 last Friday (Norwalk 58-Osky 46) and a 50-37 win over Fairfield (Osky 42-Fairfield 40).
