Indians Walk Over The Demons
Oskaloosa Indians
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Indians traveled to Washington on Tuesday night to take on the Demons in non-conference action, winning a decisive victory 74-48.
The Indians are now 5-0 on the season.
Oskaloosa Head Coach Ryan Parker caught up with Oskaloosa News’s Jamie Brockman after the game.
Parker said that during the first quarter, the Indians energy level wasn’t where it needed to be. “Even the first half. We were sort of going through the motions and I think probably what happened was, you’re ranked #1. You’ve housed Washington for the last four years, and you think they’re not very good, and all of a sudden you come into their place and they make a couple of shots and they get every loose ball, and all of a sudden you’re in a dogfight.”
“I thought we played OK at times, but our effort wasn’t good for 32 minutes. Not where it needed to be,” added Parker. “I thought our effort was better in the second half, but honestly it still wasn’t where we needed it to be.”
The Indians still walked away from Washington with a 26 point win despite struggling from the free throw line. “Honestly, I’m going to level with ya, we shoot so many in practice. I just don’t know what it is. I’ve never been a part of a struggle from the free throw line like this. Most of the time I keep my mouth shut about it and don’t say a word to anybody because that just compounds it. But lately, I’ve been having to step in because it’s more mental than physical. Hopefully, we can right that ship because that will cost us games later on,” said Parker.
Noah Van Veldhuizen was the scoring machine for the Indians, particularly in the first quarter. “Noah has shot the ball well from three all year,” Parker said. “Austin can shoot it; we just had to challenge him to play better defense.”
Noah Van Veldhuizen told Oskaloosa News “It was a lot of fun,” as he tied Cole Henry for the leading scorer with 18 points on the night.
“I just thought we worked really well as a team getting guys open and moving the ball well,” added Van Veldhuizen.
Van Veldhuizen had six three-point shots against the Demons. “It’s just one shot at a time. Putting shots up and if they fall they fall. If they don’t, you go try to get a rebound.”
Van Veldhuizen and Cole Henry lead the Indians with 18 points each, with Rian Yates adding 16 more. Xavier Foster had 11 points against the Demons.
Foster and Henry each had a total of 11 rebounds, with Yates adding 10 rebounds. Henry lead the Indians with four assists, while Foster had eight blocked shots on the night.
The Indians will host Newton on Friday night, with tip-off scheduled for 7:45 pm.
