North Mahaska junior Jack Kelderman erupted for four first quarter 3-pointers and finished with 19 points to lead the Warhawks to a 72-48 victory at Sigourney Thursday. The output was a surprise to both North Mahaska coach Seth Streebin and Sigourney’s Mitch Eslick
“He has those abilities and tonight he was on,” said Streebin. “He worked hard on the boards tonight.”
Sigourney led 6-3 in the first two minutes until Jack Kelderman hit back-to-back treys for North Mahaska.
Brayden Wood gave the Savage faithful something to cheer about when he answered with one of his own to tie the game at 9-9 with 4 minutes 47 seconds to play in the first quarter. Kelderman and Gabe Hora each drilled two threes apiece in the next 90 seconds and quickly led 20-9.
“They are a hard team to guard,” said Eslick. “When another guy gets hot you can’t just change your whole game plan. It was the kind of night when we didn’t get good shots.”
Sigourney would cut the deficit to 23-14 at halftime but could never get closer than seven points. NM led 35-23 at halftime then allowed just six points in the third quarter.
RD Keep/ North Mahaska Communications photo
Jack Kelderman spots up for one of his first quarter 3-pointers against Sigourney’s John Berg. Kelderman scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Sigourney turned the ball over 16 times to 14 for the Warhawks. Rebounding became an issue. North Mahaska held a 40-25 advantage. The Savages led in blocked shots 2-1.
“You look at the stats and it doesn’t look like it should have been a blowout,” said Eslick. “They are a really good team with a lot of weapons. We held their leading scorer, but the other four starters hit double digits.”
“I did not expect that tonight. The points off turnovers and second chance points hurt us. They had better energy tonight. North Mahaska had too many chances at the basket”.
North Mahaska’s Ryan Andersen also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Asher DeBoef finished with 13 points, five rebounds and two steals. Nate Sampson chipped in 11 points with five steals.
“We did a good job of getting to the basket and getting offensive rebounds,” said Streebin. “In transition the guys do a good job getting the ball down the floor to an open guy. Our defense did a good job holding them to one shot and getting the rebound.”
Solon Yates led Sigourney (4-5, 3-5) in scoring with 12. Isaac Burns and Ike Molyneux each scored nine. Woods finished with six and Dylan Weber had five.
North Mahaska (7-3, 6-2) will return to action Friday, Jan. 5 when they host Iowa Valley.