REDSKINS GO DOUBLE OT TO GET WIN OVER HERINGTON

KONEN SCORES 23, JANETTE GRABS 9 REBOUNDS

By Staff

HERINGTON – Closing out the pre-Christmas schedule the Little River boys were pushed to double overtime on Tuesday to earn a three-point, 57-54 win over Herington on the road.

Now 3-3 on the young season, the Redskins will return to competitive play on Friday, January 5 with a road trip to Peabody/Burns.

Little River jumped out to a nine-point, 16-7 lead by the end of the first quarter only to get outscored 19-5 in the second to put them on the wrong end of a 21-26 score heading to the halftime break.

Coming out of the break, the Redskins won the third quarter 18-12 to give them a one point, 39-38 lead heading into the final eight minutes of regulation play where Herington played them to a final 44-44 tie, putting the game into overtime.

Staying tied after the first overtime at 51-51, Little River finally took the lead back and scored the final three-point victory over Herington at 57-54.

“I am proud of our efforts and expectation down the stretch,” noted Redskin head coach Erik Base. “This team showed a lot of guts tonight, unfortunately for us, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot with our turnovers and carelessness with the ball. That will continue being an emphasis as we enter the 2024 side of the season.”

While the Redskins did connect on nine three-pointers, they also turned the ball over 21 times and were whistled for 19 fouls. One bright spot, Little River grabbed a total of 31 rebounds, with 23 of those coming on the defensive end of the game.

Jaxson Konen hit on four of those three-pointers on his way to leading the team in scoring with 23 points. Logan Renken also reached double digits with 11 points while Andrew Smith and CJ Herzog just missed with nine and eight points, respectively. Ty Janette was the main man on the boards as he grabbed nine and Blayne Baldetti had the quick hands-on defense with four steals.

Coach Base concluded his post-game reflections by talking about the team at the holiday break, saying, “This group has shown a ton of grit, battling through adversity to start the season. They have continued to show up with a positive mindset to be better daily. We look forward to stepping back on the floor again together after the break.”

LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN BASKETBALL at Herington

SCORING > Redskins won 57-54 in double overtime (3-3)

Redskins > 16-5-18-5-7-6 = 57; Herington > 7-19-12-6-7-3 = 54.

LITTLE RIVER TEAM STATS > 2-FGs = 10/25; FTs = 10/21; 3-PTs = 9/32; ASTs = 13; REBs (off/def) = 31 (8/23); STLs = 13; BLKs = 2; TOs = 21; FLs – 19.

LITTLE RIVER INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS >

Scoring (57) > Jaxson Konen – 23; Logan Renken – 11; Andrew Smith – 9; CJ Herzog – 8; Blayne Baldetti – 3; Ty Janette – 3.  3-Pointers Made (9) > Konen – 4; Renken / Herzog – 2; Smith – 1.

Assists (13) > Konen / Smith – 4; Renken / Janette – 2; Baldetti - 1.

Rebounds (31) > Janette – 9; Smith – 5; Renken / Herzog – 4; Konen / Baldetti / Logan Schubert – 3.

Steals (13) > Baldetti – 4; Janette – 3; Konen / Renken – 2; Smith / Herzog - 1.

Blocks (2) > Smith / Baldetti – 1.