Staff writer
Goessel High School Bluebirds battled Inman Friday in the second Heart of America League game, coming up short, 53-39.
The Bluebirds scored the first basket, but would never lead again. Goessel trailed, 11-15, at the end of one quarter, and four 3-pointers — two from Corey Buller — in the first half allowed the Bluebirds to stay within striking distance as they trailed, 31-22, at halftime.
A Bryant Miller basket midway through the third period got the Bluebirds as close as 36-28, but Inman scored 7 consecutive points to finish the quarter.
Inman stretched its lead to 20 points in the final frame. Goessel continued to battle and narrowed the deficit to 14 points as the game ended, 53-39.
Scoring against Inman were Corey Buller with 11 points, Aaron Reimer 9, Braden Unruh 5, Weston Hiebert 4, Hayden Goerzen and Trey Schmidt 3 each, and Bryant Miller and Isaac Fast 2 each.
The Goessel boys are now 1-5 in league play, 7-8 overall.
Berean
Aaron Reimer led all scorers with 13 points at Berean Academy on Tuesday, when the Bluebirds came up short, 47-37.
Goessel fell behind, 11-2, but ended the first quarter trailing the Warriors, 15-12. Reimer scored 6 of his points in the opening period.
Both teams struggled offensively in the second quarter, but the Warriors scored 10 consecutive points in the third period and the Bluebirds found themselves behind, 36-20, at the end of three periods.
From then on, Goessel would get as close as 10 points, scoring 17 points in the fourth period, but the scoring burst was too late to change the outcome of the game.
Scoring for the Bluebirds was Reimer with 13 points, Buller 6, Hiebert 4, Fast, Unruh, Neal Brubaker, and Chad Wedel 3 each, and Schmidt 2.
Flinthills
In a game where the Goessel boys shot a higher percentage from beyond the 3-point arc than they did from the free-throw line, the home team picked up a non-league win Feb. 1, defeating the Mustangs, 64-48.
Hayden Goerzen was the consistent scorer in the first half with 8 points, in a game where Goessel never trailed.
Flinthills stayed close until early in the third period when Goessel held a 31-28 lead. The Bluebirds outscored the visitors, 16-6, for the rest of the third quarter. The Bluebirds went to the free-throw line regularly in the fourth quarter as Flinthills tried to stop the clock.
For the game, Goessel shot a miserable 43 percent from the line, but an outstanding 46 percent from beyond the arc. Braden Unruh came up with a season-best 13 points with six of them coming from free throws.
Scoring for the Bluebirds against Flinthills was Unruh with 13 points, Fast and Goerzen had 10 each, Reimer 9, Miller 8, Wedel 5, Hiebert 4, Buller 3, and Brubaker 2.