By John Rittenhouse
The Patriot boys' basketball team found itself overmatched when it squared off against host Harris-Lake Park in the second round of the H-LP Tournament in Lake Park, Iowa, Saturday.
H-LP is a team coming off a strong 1999-00 campaign and displayed few weaknesses when it rolled to an 80-59 win over the Patriots.
The hosts canned 54 percent (32 of 59) of their field goals in the contest and sported convincing advantages in two other important statistical categories at game's end.
H-LP had a 37-28 cushion on the boards and turned the ball over eight fewer times (17-9) than the Patriots did.
Patriot coach Steve Wiertzema was impressed with H-LP, and he is looking forward to a rematch when the teams square off in Hills Feb. 13.
"H-LP is a very good team,"he offered. "They were 25-1 last year, and I don't think they graduated any of their players. They are a good squad, and we'll play them again at home later in the season. It will be fun to see how much we progressed when we meet them again."
The hosts raced to a 19-7 lead in the first quarter before extending the margin to 21 points (41-20) by halftime when they outscored the Patriots 22-13 in the second period.
H-LP extended its lead to 39 points (71-32) by outscoring H-BC 30-12 in the third quarter, but the Patriots used a 27-9 scoring cushion in the fourth quarter to make it a 21-point difference in the end.
Brad Haak turned in a solid performance for the Patriots that featured him scoring 14 points and nabbing four rebounds.
Matt Buck, David Top and Trey Van Wyhe added four rebounds each. Top and Justin Van Maanen registered four and three assists respectively.
Box score
D.DeBoer 0 0 0-0 0, Jess 0 0 0-0 0, Van Batavia 0 1 1-2 4, Van Maanen 1 0 0-2 2, Fransman 4 0 1-2 9, Haak 6 0 2-6 14, Van Wyhe 0 1 5-6 8, Top 2 0 1-2 5, Crawford 2 0 0-0 4, Krull 1 0 0-0 2, Buck 1 0 1-3 3.
Team statistics
H-BC: 19 of 45 field goals (42 percent), 11 of 23 free throws (48 percent), 28 rebounds, 17 turnovers.
H-LP: 32 of 59 field goals (54 percent), nine of 19 free throws (47 percent), 37 rebounds, nine turnovers.