By: Donovan W. Mann – [email protected]
Humboldt, IA – Humboldt High School boys basketball cruises to an easy win in their season opener against Pocahontas Area High School.
On Tuesday, Dec. 1, the Humboldt Wildcats hosted the Pocahontas Indians as both teams opened up their 2020-2021 season. Humboldt grabbed the dominated win 83-57 as the Wildcats displayed crisp passing and dominate post play all night.
A big story going into this game for both teams was they weren’t scheduled to play each other. Humboldt was supposed to host Manson-NW Webster and Pocahontas was scheduled to host Webster City. However both opponents had their teams shut down and the Wildcats and Indians agreed to play each other at Humboldt.
In the game Humboldt took the lead early and led wire to wire. After the first quarter it was just a five point game but Humboldt outscored Pocahontas 25-7 to take a halftime lead of 44-21. There was no let up in the second half for Humboldt led by over 30 points near the end of the game before Pocahontas did some window dressing at the end.
Passing was a big advantage for Humboldt in this one. In terms of the “eye test” it looked like every pass they made led to a basket. Multiple times the Wildcats were able to connect passes to work the ball down in the post in both the half court and transition offensive game.
Humboldt’s forward Sam Fischer led the team in scoring with 30 points on the night while shooting 72.2 percent from the field. He also had 13 rebounds (seven offensive, six defensive) to record the double-double. Guard Caden Matson found his way into the paint multiple times, scoring 13 points while playing limited minutes due to foul trouble.
For Pocahontas Luke Crosgrove and Luke Vanderham both recorded 18 points to lead the Indians. Crosgrove shot 8-12 from the floor (1-3 from deep). Vanderham scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter while shooting 7-12 in the game (2-7 from three point range).
A final stat report from Humboldt’s game against Pocahontas can be found on Varsity Bound.
Following the season opening win Humboldt boys basketball is now 1-0 on the season. Next up for the Wildcats will be another home game against Ogden. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 pm.
Featured photo courtesy of Rick Thompson.