st half and had a lead on 6
th ranked SE Polk (Class 4A) heading into the 4
th quarter before things slipped away. The Tigers suffered their first loss of the season getting outscored at the free throw line 15-4. The Tigers had some chances down the stretch after leading 43-40 entering the 4
th quarter but turnovers and missed free throws derailed their efforts. Carroll made just 4-10 of from the free throw line while SE Polk hit 15-17 free throws.
Carroll jumped out early taking a 20-11 lead after the 1
st quarter and leading by 10 at the half. The Tigers executed well against the Rams pressure. They finished the game with three players in double figures and assisted on 12 baskets.
The game was tight and swung back and forth in the 1
st quarter 5 lead changes and was tied at 13 late in the quarter before Kuemper edged ahead 14-13 at the break. Red Oak scored first in the 2
nd quarter and never trailed the rest of the game. Max DeVries got hot and helped them build the lead to 6. Kuemper brought in a new 5 guys who sparked them and Taye Vonnahme hit a shot from the free throw line tying the game at 23 but Kuemper couldn’t get the lead back.
Red Oak led by 3 at half but came out behind DeVries and went up 43-29. John Mayhall scored 8 straight points for Kuemper and then Mitchell Badding who had 9 in the 1
Kuemper nearly evened their record at 3-3 heading into the break but saw it slip to 2-4 overall as St Albert edged away in the 4
th quarter outscoring the Knights 20-11. The Knights hung tough early down but 1 after the 1
st quarter and down 9 at half. They quickly changed that with a dominating 3
rd quarter and were up 5 heading into the final stanza. Kuemper shot the ball well from inside the arc hitting on 47.4% of their shots but only shot 10 for 31 from behind the arc with John Mayhall knocking down 5 and Mitchell Badding having 4 made threes.
John Mayhall led Kuemper with 21 points, Mitchell Badding added 16 points and 8 rebounds. Isaac Evans also scored in double figures with 11 points. Dawson Edwards handed out 5 assists.