The Clarke boys basketball team used a balanced team effort and disruptive press to run away from Bedford 69-46 here on Monday.
The Indians now sit at 3-3 overall after a Friday win over Eddyville-Blakesburg and a Saturday loss to Carlisle.
Clarke started the game out on a 23-4 run thanks to hot shooting and the disruptive press, which led to several easy transition buckets.
“We know we have the athletes, we know we have the size, so we know that if we put on a good press, we can get some turnovers that lead to easy buckets,” head coach James Larson said. “That’s what we need right now — get some easy buckets, something that’s not too contested.”
The Indians held a 20-point lead in the first half at 30-10 after a Dylan Diveney jumper, but Bedford closed teh half on a 9-0 run to cut the Indian lead to 11 points.
But, Clarke came back out in the second half with a 15-0 run to open the half, putting the game out of reach.
Colin Morris led the Indians with 16 points, while Diveney added 14 and Jared Jamison finished with 11 points. Matt Blanchard just missed double figures, scoring nine points. Drew Wishon added seven and Brin Evins scored six off the bench.
“We needed one of those wins where we kind of just blew out a team,” Larson said. “The good thing is we contributions from everybody. We had a leading scorer of 16, but then our scoring was pretty balanced, and defensively we did a pretty good job.”
Clarke hosts Albia on Friday in South Central Conference action.
