Six Rivers East Standings
1. Black Hawk (8-1)
1. Monticello (8-1)
3. Barneveld (6-3)
4. Pecatonica (4-5)
5. Juda (3-5)
6. Argyle (1-7)
7. Albany (0-8)
JUDA - Jerry Mortimer has all of his Warriors' plates spinning at full speed with no signs of shaking.
Black Hawk worked backwards by getting its outside game flowing first then turning to its bread-and-butter low post threats against an undermanned Panther squad for a 59-41 boys basketball road victory Thursday night.
Warriors (14-1 overall, 8-1 Six Rivers East) floor general Alex Abraham ended a slow start by drilling a top-of-the-key 3-pointer with 5:32 left in the first quarter. Moments later, the senior sliced through the lane and found classmate Taylor Goodman on the left wing for a wide-open 14-footer.
A Greg Lynch 3-pointer brought Juda (7-7, 3-5) to within three at 15-12 with just over a minute in the first quarter. But a miss on the Panthers' ensuing possession fell into Abraham's hands and he turned on the afterburners, going coast to coast for a left-handed layup that brought the first quarter to a close at 17-12.
The Panthers hung around with the state-ranked Warriors and trailed 20-16 with six minutes left in the second quarter. Abraham - who finished with a game-high 16 points - drilled his second and last 3-pointer to start a 13-6 Black Hawk run that got forward Michael Place going offensively. Place - playing on a sprained ankle from Tuesday's practice - scored all eight of his second-quarter points during the run that gave Black Hawk a 33-22 halftime lead and proved to be the knockout blow to Juda.
Mortimer was impressed with his junior forward's healing speed and for him to play as well as he did with the ailment.
"Mike did a nice job. Mike's been hobbling," Mortimer said. "For him to play tonight is a miracle. He took care of it and did what he was supposed to do."
Black Hawk senior Joey Hartwig earned another double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot Goodman - the shortest of Black Hawk's starters - was a spark with nine points and nine rebounds, most from the offensive glass.
"He just plays that weak side so well," Mortimer said.
The Warriors owned the Panthers on the glass, 41-26, with 14 offensive rebounds. Goodman doesn't mind being the benefactor of all the attention Hartwig and Place receive under the hoop.
"When you have two big guys like Joey and Mike, they always try to concentrate on boxing out those guys," Goodman said. "There's ways for us guards to get our boards."
Juda was limited on the offensive end with Kurtis Mansfield having to play the point guard position his twin brother Kevin usually mans.
"When you lose your point guard, it throws everybody out of sequence," Panthers head coach Andy Werner said. "Basketball is a rhythm sport and all of a sudden you kind of throw a wrench in the gears."
Mansfield led the Panthers with 12 points and Tyler Pierce added 11 - eight in the fourth quarter.
"I think we're too impatient offensively. Instead of feeling things out, we're just pressing," Werner said. "We're trying to step up, so I give the kids credit, but we're just doing it the wrong way."
Mortimer and the Warriors feel like they're prepared for the stretch run in the Six Rivers East race with three big games starting next Tuesday at home against Barneveld. Black Hawk wraps up conference play at Pecatonica (Feb. 1) and at home versus 8-1 Monticello (Feb. 7).
"I really do believe to play good competition down the stretch is good for us to go into (the) tournament," Mortimer said. "It's going to be a battle. I'm real happy, we just got to keep getting better. We're not there yet."
Black Hawk worked backwards by getting its outside game flowing first then turning to its bread-and-butter low post threats against an undermanned Panther squad for a 59-41 boys basketball road victory Thursday night.
Warriors (14-1 overall, 8-1 Six Rivers East) floor general Alex Abraham ended a slow start by drilling a top-of-the-key 3-pointer with 5:32 left in the first quarter. Moments later, the senior sliced through the lane and found classmate Taylor Goodman on the left wing for a wide-open 14-footer.
A Greg Lynch 3-pointer brought Juda (7-7, 3-5) to within three at 15-12 with just over a minute in the first quarter. But a miss on the Panthers' ensuing possession fell into Abraham's hands and he turned on the afterburners, going coast to coast for a left-handed layup that brought the first quarter to a close at 17-12.
The Panthers hung around with the state-ranked Warriors and trailed 20-16 with six minutes left in the second quarter. Abraham - who finished with a game-high 16 points - drilled his second and last 3-pointer to start a 13-6 Black Hawk run that got forward Michael Place going offensively. Place - playing on a sprained ankle from Tuesday's practice - scored all eight of his second-quarter points during the run that gave Black Hawk a 33-22 halftime lead and proved to be the knockout blow to Juda.
Mortimer was impressed with his junior forward's healing speed and for him to play as well as he did with the ailment.
"Mike did a nice job. Mike's been hobbling," Mortimer said. "For him to play tonight is a miracle. He took care of it and did what he was supposed to do."
Black Hawk senior Joey Hartwig earned another double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot Goodman - the shortest of Black Hawk's starters - was a spark with nine points and nine rebounds, most from the offensive glass.
"He just plays that weak side so well," Mortimer said.
The Warriors owned the Panthers on the glass, 41-26, with 14 offensive rebounds. Goodman doesn't mind being the benefactor of all the attention Hartwig and Place receive under the hoop.
"When you have two big guys like Joey and Mike, they always try to concentrate on boxing out those guys," Goodman said. "There's ways for us guards to get our boards."
Juda was limited on the offensive end with Kurtis Mansfield having to play the point guard position his twin brother Kevin usually mans.
"When you lose your point guard, it throws everybody out of sequence," Panthers head coach Andy Werner said. "Basketball is a rhythm sport and all of a sudden you kind of throw a wrench in the gears."
Mansfield led the Panthers with 12 points and Tyler Pierce added 11 - eight in the fourth quarter.
"I think we're too impatient offensively. Instead of feeling things out, we're just pressing," Werner said. "We're trying to step up, so I give the kids credit, but we're just doing it the wrong way."
Mortimer and the Warriors feel like they're prepared for the stretch run in the Six Rivers East race with three big games starting next Tuesday at home against Barneveld. Black Hawk wraps up conference play at Pecatonica (Feb. 1) and at home versus 8-1 Monticello (Feb. 7).
"I really do believe to play good competition down the stretch is good for us to go into (the) tournament," Mortimer said. "It's going to be a battle. I'm real happy, we just got to keep getting better. We're not there yet."
