Bluebirds earn 12th win years ago
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
The Goessel High School boys' basketball team defeated Little River on Tuesday 48-44 at Little River.
The taller Bluebirds played to a nine-point lead with two minutes to play in the first half. Little River countered with a full-court press and Goessel led 22-18 at the mid break.
Little River tied the game 28-28 with 4:11 to play in the third quarter, and from that point the lead switched five times.
Goessel took the lead for good on a Jesse Goertzen three pointer making the score 37-35.
A Ryan Janzen lay-up followed by a Little River basket, and then another three from Goertzen, gave Goessel its biggest lead in the fourth quarter, 42-37.
Little River would surge again to trail by one with 1:32 to play, but Clinton Plenert scored his 18th point and Goessel rebounded enough missed shots to hold off the Redskins. Goessel won its 12th game of the season.
Scoring for Goessel were Plenert with 18 points and eight rebounds, Goertzen with 11, Jeremy Voth and Janzen with six each, Aaron Stehman with four, and Kent Peters with three.
Last Friday, Goessel boys defeated Sedgwick 69-41. The Bluebirds led 9-0 before Sedgwick would get their first point, and the Bluebird boys pushed their lead to 18-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Goessel scored from the inside consistently, Jeremy Voth scored at least six points in each of the first three quarters. Goessel extended the lead to 34-16 with a Kent Peters three pointer on an inbound play just before the half.
The Bluebirds did not let up in the second half as they dominated rebounds 37-20 and enlarged their lead to 69-39 before Sedgwick would score the last basket of the game.
Five players, Voth, Plenert, K. Peters, N. Peters, and Goertzen, were perfect from the free-throw line as the Bluebirds connected on 17 of 19 attempts.
Coach Justin Coup cleared the bench with 2:17 to play and the Bluebirds continued to add to their lead.
Leading the way for Goessel were Voth 23 points and nine rebounds, Goertzen with 13 points including two three pointers, Clinton Plenert 13, K. Peters 11 with eight rebounds, and six assists, Josh Schmidt three, Aaron Stehman two with five assists and five rebounds, and Ryan Janzen and N. Peters with two each.
