Goessel boys nip two top-ranked Class 2A teams
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
Goessel High School Bluebirds got a tremendous boost this week by defeating two of the top-ranked 2A teams in the state.
The boys headed for the Burrton Invitational Tournament with a 9-1 record and faced a scrappy Little River team Tuesday. They will play Burrton or Fairfield Thursday night, with the final game on Saturday. They will be at home Jan. 26 against Little River.
The Bluebirds toppled the top-ranked Inman Teutons Friday in a 54-40 win.
Inman seemed to struggle from the field, but Goessel's head coach Justin Coup said, "I'd like to think our defense had something to do with that. We scouted Inman and defended who we thought were their best shooters."
In a low-scoring, deliberate first half, Goessel led most of the way, leading 19-10 at the break. After Goessel pulled ahead 27-16, Inman's defense came storming onto the court and scored seven straight points.
A Sheldon Goerzen three-pointer and a layup, followed with a Jordan Voth jumper and three-pointer helped the Bluebirds to a 37-25 lead at the end of the third period.
Goessel led by 16 points with 4:35 to play, but missed free throws by both teams toward the end of the game prevented any surprise swings in the score.
The Bluebirds were led in scoring by Garrett Hiebert's 17 points, J. Voth 15, S. Goerzen 9, Brett Goerzen 5, Travis Buller 4, Austin Unruh 2, and Nathan Amstutz 2.
Berean Academy
The Bluebirds hung on to an early lead Tuesday and defeated a tough Warrior team from Berean.
"We got a lot of points off our transition game," said Coach Coup.
Goessel's biggest lead came at halftime with a score of 31-17.
Berean outscored the Bluebirds 10-2 to open the third quarter and got as close as 45-43 with less than a minute left in the game.
Travis Buller hit 2-of-4 free-throws in the waning seconds to preserve the victory at 47-43.
Hiebert again led the team in scoring 20 points, A. Unruh hit 8, Amstutz 8, Buller 4, S. Goerzen 4, and J. Voth 3.
