Clarke boys can’t contain explosive Nodaway Valley

The Nodaway Valley boys had an offensive explosion during its 80-62 win over Clarke Saturday.

The Wolverines’ sweltering press defense is something that is known throughout the area, but head coach James Larson isn’t content with where it’s at right now as the offense had to carry the load over the Indians.

“They (Clarke) were a team that was averaging 43 points per game. You’ve got to give them credit,” said Larson. “They hit some shots, they were aggressive, they had a good game plan. We’ve just got to be better defensively. If a team averages 43, and we’re giving up 60 points to them, that’s too much. It just comes down to being disciplined and taking each possession serious the entire time.”

Both teams started out running the floor with energy and efficiently hitting shots before NV’s press defense forced repeated turnovers that allowed the Wolverines to go on an 11-0 run.

“If we didn’t turn the ball over quite as much, it would be a lot different score,” said Clarke head coach Jim Dingeman. “I was really happy with the effort and intensity the guys brought. This is a really good Nodaway team.”

Nodaway Valley led 21-15 after the first quarter, but the team had its visible frustrations as Clarke continued to score with contributions from Umar Bulis and Dalton Stubbe. Toby Bower and Clay Hohertz led the Wolverines’ offense with 10 and seven points, respectively, in the quarter.

Despite trailing 42-28 at halftime, Clarke never seemed to be out of the game, mentally.

“In the past, not this year as much, we’ve had years where we would get down, and we would just kind of fall apart,” said Dingeman. “These guys are starting to show that they’re a little more resilient and all the way through the end we had a chance to win. We just couldn’t quite get over the hump.”

Clarke made adjustments to stop the combo of Bower and Hohertz, but the press created opportunities for easy buckets as Nodaway Valley kept the game at bay. When Clarke broke the press, Bulis was able to get inside and use his length to penetrate the NV defense and score.

“He just has the ability to just score sometimes at will,” said Dingeman. “… We’re a little bit different team with Umar on the floor and keeping him out of foul trouble really helps us because we can keep him on the floor.”

Even with Bulis contributing 24 points and Stubbe adding 16 of his own, the Indians weren’t able to stop the NV offense, utlimately not being able to force a comeback despite Dingeman feeling Clarke was in the game until the final 40 seconds.

NV (80) —21 21 19 19

Clarke (62) —15 13 18 20

NV (FG FT PTS) — Totals —39 11-21 80. Toby Boewer 14 2-2 25, Clay Hohertz 13 1-3 24, Joshua Baudler 1 4-8 6, Tyler Vandewater 2 1-2 5, Avery Phillippi 2 1-2 5, Boston DeVault 1 0-0 3. 3-point goals (9) — Bower 5, Hohertz 3, DeVault 1. Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — Vandewater.

Clarke (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 25 3-6 62. Umar Bulis 11 2-4 24, Dalton Stubbe 6 1-2 16, Taylor Henry 3 0-0 9, Brian Avalos 2 0-0 6, Casey Kindred 2 0-0 5, Kamis Bulis 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals (9) — Henry 3, Stubbe 3, Avalos 2, Kindred 1. Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — Stubbe.