LANCASTER — Members of the Potosi varsity boys’ basketball team don’t care who does the scoring, what matters to them is that the scoring gets done.
With that attitude that the visiting Chieftains were able to produce a 68–47 non-conference victory over host Lancaster last Thursday night.
Coach Mike Uppena’s squad had four different players score in double figures, as their unselfish play, and willingness to make the extra pass made the difference.
Mitch Langkamp led the Chieftains with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Spencer Hawes added 13 points. Alex Wright and Hunter Leibfried each finished with 10 points, while Logan Udelhofen had eight.
Wright also pulled down 10 boards, while Leibfried, Chase Udelhofen and Langkamp each dished out four assists.
“Potosi played better team ball than we did,” said Lancaster coach Justin Burress. “I thought that we had guys who were trying to step up, but they were stepping up in the wrong way. It was a lot of guys trying to do things individually, and that’s not what we’re looking to do. That goes against what we are looking to do.”
Lancaster’s top scorer on the night was Kile Jerrett with 10 points, while Hunter Budack had seven. A.J. Day and Winston Zenz each finished with six points.
Zenz also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and had three blocked shots, while Jerrett had six boards. Day and
Jerrett each had two assists, while Jerrett also had two steals.
After one quarter of play, Potosi led the host Arrows, 22-15, but the Chieftains came out in the second quarter and outscored the Arrows 17-6, holding a decisive 39-21 lead at the half.
Potosi continued to score at will on their end of the court, outscoring Lancaster 18-10 in the third quarter, and taking a 57-31 advantage into the fourth.
“We did just a tremendous job of seeing the floor, and our vision was great in finding each other,” said Potosi coach Mike Uppena.
“We don’t have a lot of size, but I thought we got it into the post alright,” Uppena added.
“Overall, I was probably the most disappointed with a lot of our breakdowns on defense,” said Burress. “We were getting beat on the back door, we had no help defense, our rebounding was poor, and Potosi just did a lot of the little things better than we did.”
As a team, Potosi made 26-of-54 (48%) field goal attempts, including 6-of-13 (46%) from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Chieftains were 10-of-16 (62.5%) from the free throw line, committed six turnovers and had six team steals.
Lancaster made 20-of-45 (44%) field goal attempts, and was 1-of-18 (5%) from downtown. They made 6-of-9 (67%) free throw attempts.
With the win, Potosi improved to 6–1 on the season, while Lancaster fell to 0–7 overall.
Potosi 68, Lancaster 47
(from Thursday, Dec. 27 @ Lancaster)
Potosi 22 17 18 11 — 68
Lancaster 15 6 10 16 — 47
Potosi (6–1) — Logan Udelhofen 8, Hunter Leibfried 10, Chase Kruser 2, Spencer Hawes 13, Mitch Langkamp 17, Alex Wright 10, Josh Parkins 2, Tim Fritz 3, Brent Curtis 2. Totals — 26 10-16 68.
Lancaster (0–7) — Hentrich 3, Day 6, Ryan 5, Jerrett 10, Snider 2, Zenz 6, Buddack 7, Friederick 4, Snider 4. Totals — 20 6-9 47.
3-point goals — P: 6 (Langkamp 3, Wright 2, Fritz 1); L: 1 (Hentrich 1). Team fouls — P: 10; L: 15. Fouled out — none.