Cardinals employ new defense while hitting their groove offensively in rolling to CCC victory

17IMG_3833 (Wilt shooting a jumper over Lane Hinton and Briscoe Post)

South Shelby senior forward Noah Wilt shoots a jumper over Highland's Lane Hinton, left, and Briscoe Post during Friday's Clarence Cannon Conference game in Lewistown, Mo. | Shane Hulsey photo

LEWISTOWN, Mo. — It took a little more than a quarter for the South Shelby boys basketball team to find its rhythm.

Once the Cardinals did, it was smooth sailing.

South Shelby led 14-12 after the first quarter against Highland on Friday, but the Cardinals stretched that lead to as large as 15 in the second quarter and never let the Cougars get closer than eight points the rest of the way in a 72-44 Clarence Cannon Conference victory at the Highland High School gym.

“We hit our groove,” Cardinals senior forward Noah Wilt said.

Wilt led that march to a blowout victory by scoring 18 of his game-high 20 points in the final three quarters. All eight of his made field goals came from inside the arc.

“The outside shots weren’t really falling tonight, but the drive was working,” Wilt said.

While Wilt did not connect on an outside shot, his teammates did to the tune of eight 3-pointers. Seven of those triples came after the first quarter, and junior Colt Schmitz got the Cardinals’ run started with a 3-pointer 12 seconds into the second quarter. 

“We could definitely feel that momentum and that we were going to start going now and hit some shots,” Cardinals senior guard Preston Elsen said of the Cardinals’ confidence after that 3-pointer.

Schmitz made two more 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to finish with nine points, and Elsen knocked down a three in the third quarter and added another bucket in that frame as he finished with 13 points.

“Colt and Preston started hitting shots, and it was barbecue chicken from there,” Wilt said.

A brand new defense — a 3-1-1 zone the Cardinals had not played before Friday — took some getting used to, as well. After the Cardinals got acclimated, that defense became more effective in South Shelby coach Kent O’Laughlin’s eyes.

“We got adjusted to what we were doing defensively and threw them in a cog,” O’Laughlin said. “We threw a ‘D’ at them we hadn’t worked on, so when you work on it in the game, it gets kind of sloppy at times. We gave up some easy looks with the guy diving from midcourt to the bucket. We took that away in the second half, and it made a big difference.”

Highland coach Whitney Edmondson said her team got antsy on offense at times.

“My boys are young, and they’re learning to adjust,” said Edmondson, whose team is 2-16 overall and 0-3 in th CCC. “When we’re facing a different defense, how do we adjust to that? How do we find our openings? Sometimes we just got in a little too much of a hurry.”

South Shelby (12-8, 1-0 CCC) has now won seven straight games, included in that streak is a North Shelby Tournament title, which the Cardinals secured by defeating the host Raiders 65-62 on Jan. 25. South Shelby has scored at least 64 points in each of those seven games.

“We’ve played better as a team on this little run,” Wilt said. “Great ball movement, great vision on the court, hitting the open man, no selfishness.”

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