Bluebirds Step Up Against Bombers
Goessel Guys Basketball v. Wakefield Bombers @ Goessel December 15, 2017
Goessel nearly overcame 7 Wakefield treys and the huge inside presence of 6’3” Senior Nathan Jackson Friday night at home. The Bluebirds were within 2 at 48-50 with three and half minutes left after going on a 8-2 run. After Dylan Lindeman was called for a charge in the paint, however, the foul-drenched contest got tentative with turnovers both ways and ended up a free throw contest. The Bombers pulled away 52-58 on 4-6 shooting from the line and a break off full court pressure to secure the Wheat State League win.
The Bluebirds went over the top early several times to Jordan Griffin who converted to stay at 4-6. Nearly simultaneously, bigs Jackson (W) and Griffin (G) were whistled for their 2nd personals and both sat from 3 minutes left in the 1st until half time. Goessel went to zone and the Bombers zeroed in their rangefinders and hit three consecutive treys to go up 8-15 at the quarter. A highlight finish for the Bluebirds was fearless Jake Hagewood’s amazing drive to the hoop at the buzzer. Fans watching at home indicated in the early going the streaming was coming in upside down, but this issue was resolved after the first quarter. Goessel’s Senior Jayce Schmidt was absent this evening, with an illness that is still being diagnosed. The Goessel nation’s thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
Just into the 2nd stanza, the entire Sophomore cheering section went ballistic with Jerah Schmidt’s Stephan Curry like slide pass into Lindeman for the lay-in. Lindeman brought the crowd to their collective feet with a shot so impressive it caused parts of Rob Lehrman’s whiskers to ignite. Jackson and Krueger now both remained on the bench in foul peril for Wakefield and Goessel ran it to 22-23 on efforts from Dylan, a lovely follow from Carson Sterk, a silky smooth Lindeman jumper from 10 feet, and a beautifully executed circle off the pick from Hagewood. Timeout Wakefield 2:58. Moments later, at 2:27, Dylan was hammered in the paint and hit both charities to go up 24-23 for the only Bluebird lead of the night. Ghent put up the 5th of 7 Bomber bombs to retake the lead, Dylan frolicked coast to coast, then Ghent hit two FT’s to close the half 26-28. Goessel won the 2nd quarter 18-13.
The 30 Mini-Cheer participants and GHS cheer team put on a dazzling halftime show. The 2nd half of this contest was replete with so many highlights it left fans gasping for air. 6’-3” or so Jerah Schmidt caught a Lindeman pass and fearlessly went to the hoop on the break. Zach Zogleman went up against Carver and he was whistled for his 3rd, but moments later Griffin was called for his own 3rd personal; Goessel could not find a defensive stopper on Jackson in the paint. With the Bombers pushing in hard inside, each team was accumulating foul trouble and at once the Wakefield coach even yelled “quit fouling!” Dylan caught a nice in-pass to get to 33-36, but Carson was whistled for #3 and #4 back to back and had to sit. With a 6-0 run from the visitors Coach Guhr called time at 2:32. Hagewood got the lost but not forgotten Luke Unruh hustle points with a no-look dish to Griffin inside; Jackson jumped a pass and laid one in, but Griffin found nothing but net from way beyond the beautiful Christmas lights on the west edge of town to keep in it at 38-44. The 12-18 quarter closed at 38-46.
Fouls stood at 5 and 5 at the beginning of the 4th. Hagewood stood brilliantly on D and took a charge from Jackson, his #3 foul. Krueger was forced to sit with his #4 at 7:38 and there looked like there may yet be hope. Griffin converted both ends of the 1-1 to close to 40-46, then Zogleman ran the floor with a steal and threw up a shot out of what can only be described in diving language as a forward pike rotation tuck; somehow the sphere lodged in the net +1. Off the rebound, Sterk pulled down the offensive board, fed to Lindeman who closed to 44-48 with an excellent turn in the paint. Down the floor the next time Sterk dropped a 5 footer in off the glass and the Bluebirds notched a huge stop on the Bombers at the other end. Lindeman grabbed the carom, went from league signs to trophy case , was fouled and hit both charities and the fans were screaming at 48-50. In a huge fracas on the east side, Goessel got the travel call, but off the turnover, Lindeman was called for a charge and things fell off at 3:20. Carver got a huge bucket for the Bombers off a well-timed follow leap. Multiple nervous turnovers both ways in the tight going brought on two Wakefield timeouts,the last at 1:38. The Bluebirds were forced to foul with time winding down 48-53. Griffin lofted a lovely short jumper 50-53 but at :47 Carver hit two charities. Down the floor, Lindeman went up for what looked almost like a desperation three in the corner but was fouled and went to the line for three. The Sophomore hit 1 of the three to stay at 51-55 and Coach Guhr called time at :35. With full court pressure and with the Bombers in the double bonus, the Bluebirds could not get the steal and fouled again. Back down the floor, Griffin was fouled, Jackson finally fouled out, and he hit the back end of two to stay at 52-56 with 16 ticks left. Wakefield found Krueger wide open underneath for two more and this one closed at 52-58.
In this entertaining contest, Lindeman was high scorer with 24, Griffin followed with 14, Hagewood 6, Sterk 4, Zogleman 3 and Schmidt 1. Also on the floor for Goessel was Nathaniel Schmucker. Goessel hit a reasonable 44% (15 of 34) from 2 FG range and was 64% (16 of 25) from the charity stripe. Goessel only collected 19 rebounds on the night, 6 offensive and 13 defensive. The Bluebirds only committed 11 turnovers but had only 4 steals. Jackson led the Bombers with 16 but played huge inside at both ends for the Bombers. One other big difference tonight was the Wakefield effort from beyond the arc: 7 three pointers against the Bluebird’s two (2 for 14 = 14%).
-Karl Brubaker
