Titans ground Bombers with ‘best overall defensive effort of the season’ in 14-point victory

WARSAW, Ill. — The West Hancock boys basketball team proved Friday night its victory over Macomb in late December was no fluke.

The Titans controlled every aspect of the return engagement, ending with a 54-40 triumph Friday night at Warsaw High School.

West Hancock is now 19-4 and within one win of a third straight 20-victory season. Macomb fell to 15-4 and has dropped four of the last five matchups against West Hancock.

Cooper Knowles, the smooth operating 6-foot-9 junior center for West Hancock, turned in a 19-point, 12-rebound, 6-block performance. 

Knowles did most of his damage in the first half with 14 points and eight boards, then turned the final two quarters over to the Titans’ talented combination of guards, headed by Gavin Grothaus and Lewis Siegfried. Grothaus scored 12 points and Siegfried added 10.

Even more impressive than West Hancock’s inside-outside dominance on offense was its suffocating defense.

“I think this game was more competitive than the first time we played Macomb, and I also think this game was our best overall defensive effort of the season,” West Hancock coach Jeff Dahl said. “Our guys were focused, and nobody was hanging their head if something didn’t go right.”

The Titans grounded the Bombers 55-37 in the schools’ December joust in Macomb.

“The big difference tonight was Knowles,” Macomb coach Jeremy Anderson said.

Anderson felt Knowles, who scored 14 points against his club in late December, was much more active and single-handedly shredded much of Macomb’s effort at establishing any sort of consistency when it had the ball. 

“We got smoked in December, and our guys were excited for the rematch — and this was a great environment with a great atmosphere,” Anderson said. “We just don’t have a 6-9 kid like Knowles. We’re still working on building confidence with our interior players.”

What the Bombers did have — at least for a half — was the shooting touch of 5-foot-8 senior guard Malachi Conley, who scored 17 points over the first two quarters to keep Macomb within 32-23 at intermission. Conley, who buried five 3-point field goals in the first half, managed just four points the first time around against West Hancock.

The second half was a different story, however, when West Hancock’s defense completely shut down Conley. He was held scoreless over the closing 16 minutes.

“If (Conley) didn’t hit those five 3-pointers in the first half, the game would have gotten completely out of control,” Dahl said.

Knowles agreed.

“(Conley) was on fire the first half, but our guards shut him down in the second half,” Knowles said. “Our guards can also score. We have a lot of athletes.”

Knowles emphasized he is more than happy to share the offensive spotlight, admitting he enjoys watching the Titans’ backcourt take over the flow of the game. On Friday night, West Hancock guards scored 17 of the team’s 22 second-half points.

“As long as we win, that’s all that matters,” Knowles said.

Siegfriend and Grothaus, both 6-foot-2 seniors and the ringleaders of that West Hancock backcourt, have scored in double figures a combined eight times in the Titans’ last five games — all Titans wins. The club’s offensive balance over that period is underlined by just one player (Knowles) scoring as many as 20 points during that stretch.

West Hancock goes for win No. 20 in what should be a highly entertaining game Tuesday night when Keokuk (10-4) visits Warsaw. Keokuk, led by 6-foot-10, 265-pound junior center Jaxon Clark, has won 10 of its last 11 games.

Clark, who is being eyed by at least three Big Ten programs, including Illinois, is averaging 23.4 points and 14.8 rebounds. Earlier this month, Clark scored 41 points (32 in the second half) in a 61-50 victory over Fort Madison.

Keokuk defeated West Hancock a year ago 84-73 in double overtime.