The Eureka High School boys played the Humboldt Cubs Monday night at Humboldt. The Tornadoes opened well but still found themselves down 10 with seconds to go in the first quarter. A last-second 3-point basket by the Cubs made the lead 13 at the end of the quarter and seemed to deflate the Tornadoes. Poor shooting and poor defense allowed the Cubs to put the game away before halftime, as they outscored the Tornadoes by 17 points in the quarter to take a 9-39 lead.
The second half opened with more of the same, with the Cubs outscoring the Tornadoes 4-21 in the third quarter. Both teams played their younger athletes in the fourth quarter. The Tornadoes shot 17% from the field for the game and had 22 turnovers, which made a victory problematic. Additionally, they hit only 5 of 17 from the line, so they were unable to make the host Cubs pay any penalty for their often overly-aggressive defense.
Cole Ptacek led the Tornadoes with 5 points. Tyson Coon had 3, Nate Clark and T.J. Mills had 2 each. Peyton Hare, J.P. Gillaume, Brody Mitchell, and Davian Damron all hit a free throw to round out the scoring.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final EHS 7 2 4 3 16 HHS 20 19 21 1 61
Up Next:
The Tornadoes ended the 2024 portion of their season Friday, Dec. 20 at Flinthills High School. Due to an early press deadline, details will be shared in next week’s edition. Eureka will resume games on Friday, Jan. 20, at Fredonia.
