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‘Best basketball of the season’ in first half carries Lynx to road win over Gaels

Eklund makes up for lost time against SE, scores game-high 21

WCHS junior Beau Klaver (41) is hacked as he puts up a shot against St. Edmond Tuesday night in Fort Dodge. Messenger photo/Britt Kudla

FORT DODGE — Tavis Eklund was only able to sit and watch as his Webster City boys’ basketball team struggled in a 52-49 loss to St. Edmond back on Jan. 4. So to say he was motivated on Tuesday would be an understatement.

The senior shooting guard certainly left an imprint on the rematch.

Eklund, who missed the first meeting due to an ankle injury, ripped the nets early and scored a game-high 21 points to lead WCHS to a 55-43 road victory over the Gaels. He torched St. Edmond for 13 first-quarter points and 15 in the first half.

But it wasn’t just Eklund that did the damage early on. It was the entire team.

WCHS (5-6, 3-4 NCC) steamed out to a 27-11 lead after one quarter and led 38-17 at the break. The Lynx used 9-0 and 12-0 runs over the opening 16 minutes to build their lead to as many as 23 points.

Ty McKinney (10) scores two of his 11 points in Webster City’s win over St. Edmond on Tuesday. Messenger photo/Britt Kudla

“That first half was our best basketball of the season,” WCHS head coach Marty McKinney said. “It was about as well as we could play and it was really a thing of beauty. It started at the defensive end too. We got stops, we rebounded well and we got turnovers that led to transition points.”

St. Edmond (7-10, 4-7 NCC) was able to whittle away after the break, however. Five 3-pointers in the second half allowed the Gaels to get as close as eight with four minutes remaining, but WCHS answered at the free throw line. Eklund drained all six of his attempts in the closing minutes, and Devon Stoakes added two more to help WCHS push its advantage back to double digits.

Marty McKinney felt his team took its foot off the gas somewhat in the second half.

“I don’t think we were trying to back down at all, but we just got pretty conservative offensively and St. Edmond started making some shots,” he said. “It was just a different effort. We kind of relaxed a little bit and that’s all St. Edmond needed to get back in the game.”

Ty McKinney added 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in the win. Jamin Stuhr and Trey Lyons both kicked in eight points, and Tyler Olson scored four to go along with four steals and three assists. Eklund also dished out three assists.

WCHS had 14 assists on 18 made baskets and turned the ball over just 10 times.

Quinten McCarville paced St. Edmond with 13 points, one more than Jackson Palmer. Hayden Mayer added 10 more.

Webster City 55, St. Edmond 43

Tuesday at Fort Dodge

Webster City (5-6, 3-4 NCC) — Tyler Olson 2 0-0 4, Devon Stoakes 0 2-2 2, Ty McKinney 4 2-2 11, Tavis Eklund 6 6-6 21, Jamin Stuhr 4 0-0 8, Beau Klaver 0 1-4 1, Trey Lyons 3 1-2 8. Totals: 18 12-16 55.

St. Edmond (7-10, 4-7 NCC) — Anthony Lacina 0 0-0 0, Noah Simpson 1 0-0 3, Quinten McCarville 4 2-2 13, Jackson Palmer 4 1-2 12, Drew Schaeffer 1 0-0 3, Hayden Mayer 5 0-0 10, Sean Flattery 1 0-0 2, Colin McElroy 0 0-0 0, Caleb Schaefer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 3-4 43.

Web City 27 11 5 12 — 55

St. Edmond 11 7 11 14 — 43

3-point field goals — WC 4 (Eklund 3, McKinney); SE 8 (McCarville 3, Palmer 3, Simpson, D. Schaeffer). Rebounds — WC 18 (McKinney 7, Stuhr 4). Steals — WC 10 (Olson 4, McKinney 3). Assists — WC 14 (McKinney 4, Olson 3, Eklund 3). Turnovers — WC 10. Team fouls — WC 8, SE 11. Fouled out — none.

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