Spartans click in 24-5 second half spurt

Southwestern's Ryckey Harper.

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When the Southwestern men turned a 40-33 halftime lead into a 64-38 command in the opening eight minutes of the second half against Grand View JV here Thursday, new coach Mike Holmes saw his team was “getting it.” His approach of making the other team work on defense, and helping concepts on defense, was clicking on all cylinders. After the 24-5 run, the Spartans cruised to a 83-60 victory to improve to 2-0 for the season. “We were starting to get a feel for the tempo of our system in the second half,” Holmes said. “In the first half we were just getting shots up early because we had a lead. By reversing the basketball and forcing them to defend, that’s when they only got five points in the first eight minutes of the second half. We showed glimpses of what we can be.” While the first half didn’t have the same level of execution, the Spartans were able to establish a lead thanks to freshman Trent Fisher scoring Southwestern’s first 10 points. Fisher ended the half with 16 points. Sophomore guard Ryckey Harper had nine of his 16 points in the opening half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 40-33 spread. Fisher finished with 21 points. Sophomore Royce Phillips had a strong night on the boards and finished with 12 points. Sophomore guard Tyler Raasch of Nodaway Valley hit a 3-pointer and tallied nine points. The Spartans achieved their goal of making more free throws than shot by the opponents, as Southwestern was 17-of-22 at the line to Grand View’s 10-12. Jamahl DePriest was 4-5 at the line for the Spartans. The game was a homecoming of sorts on two fronts. Two of Holmes’ former players at Ottumwa High School, Corey Bain and Jon Duree, were members of the all-freshman Viking JV squad. Bain had a team-high 14 points. Riley returns And, a 6-2 post player for Grand View battling the likes of 6-6, 265-pound De’Everett Williams and the 6-7 Fisher was freshman Adam Riley of Creston. Several friends and family members were in attendance. “I was pretty excited to come here, but obviously I wasn’t very happy with the results,” said Riley, who finished with four points. Riley plays a similar role with the Viking JV as he did with the Panthers. “A lot of it is the same, a lot of high post stuff,” Riley said. “Our team here shoots a lot more threes, so it’s a lot of rebounding. You don’t get as many over the back calls, which kind of hurts me because I’ll get good position, but because I’m too short they still get it. We struggled on rebounding tonight.” One of the recent Grand View JV games was against DMACC. Former Panther teammate Cody Pearson is a redshirt freshman guard with the DMACC squad. Southwestern, meanwhile, showed signs of a “go-to” player in Fisher, the versatile 6-7, 200-pound freshman out of Johnston. “That’s why we recruited him,” Holmes said. “When he gets the reputation of being able to score up high, two things will happen. They’ll have to bring their centers out, which will really help all of our cuts. Or, they’ll leave their centers down, and you see what he can do.” Southwestern visits Graceland University JV for a 4 p.m. game Sunday. GRAND VIEW (60) — Corey Bain 5 2-2 14, Tyler Beard 5 0-0 12, Lee Knickerbocker 2 3-3 7, Ryan Berkey 2 1-2 5, Adam Riley 1 2-2 4, Ben Van Walbeek 2 0-0 4, Jon Duree 2 0-0 4, Wade Jay 1 0-0 2, Damon Arredondo 1 0-0 3, Ryan Carpenter 1 0-0 2, Ryan Aholt 0 2-2 2. Totals — 28 10-12 60. 3-point goals — 6 (Beard 2, Bain 2, Arrendondo 1, Jay 1). Team fouls — 19. Fouled out — Bain. SOUTHWESTERN (83) — Trent Fisher 9 3-4 21, Ryckey Harper 7 0-0 16, Royce Phillips 5 2-2 12, Tyler Raasch 4 0-0 9, Kristian Williams 2 2-2 6, Jamahl DePriest 1 4-5 6, Keenan Lindsey 1 0-0 3, Drew Godwin 1 1-2 3, Wil Wilson 0 2-2 2, De’Everette Williams 1 0-0 2, Boan Weanquoi 0 2-2 2, Mike Ridnour 0 1-3 1. Totals — 31 17-22 83. 3-point goals — 4 (Harper 2, Lindsey 1, Raasch 1). Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — None. Grand View JV — 33 60 SWCC — 40 83 —————— Larry Peterson can be reached at 782-2141, ext. 232 or lpeterson@crestonnews.com