BY TROY BANNING

tbanning@freemanjournal.net

WEBSTER CITY – For whatever reason, Avery Fuhs struggled to find the bottom of the basket Tuesday night inside the WCHS gymnasium. His twin brother, Alec, had his own troubles; fouls, specifically, that turned him into a spectator for the entire second quarter.

Now here’s the irony – their issues may have been the best thing that could have happened to the Webster City boys’ basketball team.

With their go-to guys wondering what was going on, the rest of the Lynx were forced to pick up the slack and the result was a complete team effort in a statement-making early-season victory over previously unbeaten Pocahontas Area/Laurens-Marathon, 60-46.

“It was a great team effort. Everybody that got in the game stepped up and made an impact in some way,” WCHS head coach Marty McKinney said. “Pocahontas is good and they’re going to win a lot of games in their league. We knew this was going to be a big challenge for us.”

The Fuhs boys combined for 41 points in a 55-52 season-opening win over Fort Dodge St. Edmond last Friday.

But the Lynx (2-0) wouldn’t have prevailed Monday without the efforts of role players. Forward Sean Vogelbacher was the energy guy, crashing the boards for a game-high nine rebounds. Landon Daniels was the stopper, as he held the Indians talented freshman leader Jace Davidson scoreless in the second half after he went off for 10 during the game’s first 16 minutes. Colt Richardson did it at both ends of the floor by scoring 10 points and limiting Indians’ big man Austin Roetman to just nine.

The reserves did plenty as well. Connor Shannon gave WCHS crucial minutes in the first half and drained a 3-pointer from the wing to boot. Connor Foster quietly was a defensive hawk and also scored five points, three coming on a bomb from the top of the key that pushed the Lynx lead to double digits in the third quarter.

Vogelbacher scored just two points – an area he’d like to improve – but he knew what was expected.

“I had two rebounds in the first game and that’s not a good number,” he said. “We all needed to improve after that one. Getting offensive and defensive rebounds, that was a big priority.”

“If Sean doesn’t play like he did, we don’t win,” McKinney said. “He was all over the place.”

Don’t feel too bad for the Fuhs twins though. They eventually got theirs.

Avery Fuhs found his stroke in the second half and scored a team-high 18 points to go along with four assists. Alec Fuhs, who missed the final 8:41 of the first half, poured in 11 of his 14 points in the third and fourth periods.

“It was good to see everybody step up like that,” Avery Fuhs said. “Sean played a big role for us and our bench – Connor Shannon and Connor Foster, and Brandon Ausenhus – all played huge roles, too. They had some big guys, so this was an all-around good win.”

After the Indians knotted the game at 25 on a 3-pointer from Davidson late in the first half, WCHS seized command for good with a 7-0 spurt over the next three minutes of action.

The Lynx added an 8-0 run late in the third quarter, which included Foster’s 3 and a long jumper from Ausenhus, and took a 47-34 cushion into the final stanza.

“We’ve been talking a lot about getting a stop, getting a score and then getting a stop,” McKinney said. “If you can get four or five of those in a game, you’re going to have a good chance to win. I thought our defensive effort was much better, too. Landon Daniels just played great defense on Davidson in the second half. I told him his job was to face guard him and make his life miserable and he did that.”

Davidson entered the game averaging 17.5 points an outing.

Tanner Youngberg scored a game-high 19 points for Pocahontas Area/Laurens-Marathon (2-1). He drilled three triples on the night, including one at the buzzer to end the third quarter.

With its guard-oriented lineup, WCHS was able to whittle large chunks of time off the clock in the final quarter. The Indians eventually had to foul and the Lynx calmly knocked down 5 of 6 free throws over the final 1:48.

“It’s always nice to have a lead like that,” Avery Fuhs said. “We like it when they come out and pressure us because we’re able to dribble drive and find open guys. Penetration was huge (in the win).”

WCHS shot 41 percent and was aided by 21 points from long distance. The Fuhs boys netted a pair of 3’s each and Daniels drained one from the right wing. Daniels produced six points and six rebounds.