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LYNX KICK JUST ENOUGH RUST OFF TO EDGE ’DOGS

Olson ignites late charge; Eklund, Stuhr and McKinney also in double figures

WEBSTER CITY — Mary McKinney wasn’t overly optimistic when he walked onto the floor for his team’s first game of the season Tuesday night.

Did he expect to win? Of course. But did he expect it to be a struggle? Of course again. That’s what happens when a team sits stagnant for 21⁄2 weeks and is playing its first game of the season against an opponent with four tussles already under the belt.

“We knew it was going to be a struggle,” McKinney, Webster City’s head coach, said following the Lynx 58-55 escape over Hampton-Dumont/CAL inside the WCHS gymnasium. “We’ve had three practices in the last 21⁄2 weeks and we knew we weren’t in game shape.”

It wasn’t always pretty, and the players were noticeably exhausted as they shuffled toward the locker room following the narrow victory. But they survived and that’s all that mattered.

“Give our kids credit because we handled some adversity and made some winning plays at the end,” McKinney said. “We were gassed and (HDC) played fast. But I thought we handled it well.”

A 7-0 run over a 31⁄2-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter allowed WCHS (1-0, 1-0 NCC) to prevail. The Bulldogs (1-4, 0-3 NCC) led 53-50 following a Mario De La Cruz 3-pointer from the right corner with 4:05 remaining, but then the Lynx took over.

Tyler Olson, one of the team’s senior leaders, knotted it at 53 following a traditional three-point play in transition with just over three minutes remaining. Classmate and fellow returning starter Tavis Eklund put WCHS in front to stay at the 1:50 mark with a drive and nice up and under move from the left block. Jamin Stuhr then drained a pair of free throws to make it 57-53 with 1:11 to go.

An Olson free throw with 25 ticks remaining extended the Lynx lead to three. HDC got two late looks from distance, but 3-point attempts by Marco Guerrero and Jordan Severs missed the mark.

There were four ties and five lead changes in the final period, but the Lynx 8-2 spurt over the final 4:05 was the difference.

Severs led all scorers with 18 points. Eklund and Stuhr both poured in 16 for WCHS, and Olson finished with 12. Stuhr also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, while Olson registered five assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Ty McKinney gave WCHS a fourth double-digit scorer; he finished with 10 points.

The glass was not the Lynx friend, particularly early on. HDC crashed the boards and scored enough second- and third-chance points to draw McKinney’s ire. The Bulldogs utilized the aggressiveness to go on a late first-half run to close to within two, 28-26, at the break.

HDC finished with a 30-29 rebounding edge and 12 of the caroms came on the offensive glass.

“The rebounding has got to improve immensely,” McKinney said. “Fatigue was a big part of it. When we got tired, it was harder to box out and rebound.”

Eklund and Ty McKinney accounted for 17 of the Lynx first-half points. Eklund rained in a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers.

An 8-0 HDC flurry in the third quarter shoved it back into the lead, but Olson kept WCHS within arm’s reach. Over a three-possession stretch, he canned a short jumper, drove and whipped a no-look pass to Eklund for an easy bucket, and then scored in transition.

McKinney said Olson’s three-point play that started with a steal after HDC had jumped ahead 53-50 was big too.

“That changed everything right there,” he said. “One of the big things going into the game was how were we going to handle adversity? They made that run to start the third quarter and we handled that, and then Tyler made that big steal and turns it into a three-point play when we were down. So those things were good to see.”

Beau Klaver added four points off the bench for WCHS, which will be back on its home floor on Friday to take on Algona at 7:45 p.m.

Webster City 58, HDC 55

Tuesday at Webster City

Hampton-Dumont/CAL (1-4, 0-3 NCC) — Jordan Severs 6 4-5 18, Mario Le La Cruz 2 1-2 6, Jace Spurgeon 3 0-0 6, Marco Guerrero 2 0-0 5, Cal Heeren 1 0-0 2, Benji Sauke 0 0-0 0, Colin Hill 1 0-0 2, Scott Harr 5 0-0 10, Payton McNealy 3 0-0 6. Totals: 23 5-7 55.

Webster City (1-0, 1-0 NCC) — Tyler Olson 4 4-6 12, Jayce Neuroth 0 0-0 0, Devon Stoakes 0 0-0 0, Ty McKinney 3 4-8 10, Trey Lyons 0 0-2 0, Tavis Eklund 6 1-2 16, Jamin Stuhr 6 4-5 16, Beau Klaver 1 2-4 4. Totals: 20 15-27 58.

HDC 13 13 17 12 — 55

Web City 17 11 14 16 — 58

3-point field goals — HDC 4 (Severs 2, De La Cruz, Guerrero); WC 3 (Eklund 3). Rebounds — WC 29 (Stuhr 9, Olson 4). Steals — WC 10 (Olson 2, McKinney 2, Eklund 2, Stoakes 2). Assists — WC 16 (Olson 5), McKinney 4). Turnovers — WC 13. Team fouls — HDC 19, WC 8. Fouled out — HDC: De La Cruz.

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