With a 54-49 victory over visiting Cassville this past Tuesday night, the Potosi varsity boys basketball team took control of the Six Rivers West conference standings with only two league games remaining in the regular-season.
The win gave Potosi (9-1) a game-and-a-half lead over the Comets (7-2), who have three conference games remaining on their schedule, and will need help from either Benton (2-6) or Highland (3-6) if they are to get back into the race.
The Chieftains jumped out to an early 10-3 lead over the Comets Tuesday night, but it was coach Dennis Uppena’s squad holding a 15-12 advantage after one quarter of play.
The second quarter belonged to the Chieftains though, who outscored Cassville 15-5, and took a 27-20 lead into the second half.
Potosi led throughout the entire second half, but Cassville got as close as four points at 35-31 with around two minutes to play in the third, then got to within 52-46 with 23 seconds to play in the fourth.
In the third quarter, Potosi senior Mitch Langkamp went on a terror, scoring eight of his team-high 20 points, including six in a row.
The Chieftains certainly could have made things easier on themselves had they made more than 9-of-21 (43%) free throw attempts, including 2-of-9 in the fourth quarter.
While Langkamp finished with 20 points, Hunter Leibfried added 14 and Logan Udelhofen had nine.
With Ty Kartman still nursing a broken foot, and Ryan Kirschbaum sitting out with an illness, Sebastian Apers poured in a game-high 23 points for the Comets. Cole Adams added nine and Hunter Nix eight.
Last Thursday night the Comets had an easy time with host Benton, handing them a 60-34 loss, while the Chieftains were forced to come from behind to beat host Shullsburg, 60-57.
In Cassville’s win over Benton, Apers scored a team-high 23 points to go along with six assists and four steals.
Cole Adams added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win, while Ryan Kirschbaum finished with nine points and five boards.
The Comets made 24-of-46 (52%) field goal attempts, including 9-of-19 (47%) 3-pointers. They were 3-of-9 (33%) from the line, committed 15 turnovers and came away with nine steals.
Against Shullsburg that same night, the Chieftains trailed the host Miners, 44-35, going into the fourth quarter, then outscored their opponent, 25-13, in the final eight minutes of action to win by three.
Langkamp scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter alone, while Leibfried added 12 points to the win, and Udelhofen nine.
Langkamp also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds, while Chase Kruser dished out five assists.
The Chieftains shot 49 percent (23-of-47) from the field, including 42 percent (5-of-12) from downtown.
In non-conference action this past Saturday night, the Comets defeated host Seneca, 66-45.
Apers scored a game-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and five steals, while Ryan Kirschbaum added 11 points and seven boards.
The Comets made 26-of-58 (45%) shot attempts, including 10-of-28 (36%) from downtown, while knocking in 4-of-7 (57%) free throw attempts and committing 10 turnovers.

Potosi 54, Cassville 49
(from Tuesday, Feb. 5)
Cassville    15    5    11    18 - 49
Potosi         12    15    15    12 - 54
Cassville - Sebastian Apers 23, Hunter Nix 8, Cole Adams 9, Elijah Okey 4, Codi Schwab 3, Andrw Ihm 2. Totals - 19 5-10 49.
Potosi - Logan Udelhofen 9, Chase Kruser 4, Hunter Leibfried 14, Mitch Langkamp 20, Alex Wright 4, Tim Fritz 3. Totals - 20 9-21 54.
3-point goals - C: Apers 5, Nix 1, P: Udelhofen 2, Langkamp 1, Leibfried 2. Team fouls - C: 15, P: 13. Fouled out - Okey (C).