By Stu Swartz
The future looks bright and the present is mighty fine for Concord High School’s boys basketball Minutemen.
Two freshmen and a sophomore helped ignited a torrid Concord start Tuesday as the Minutemen rolled to a 67-55 non-conference win over the Elkhart Central Blue Blazers at McCuen Gym.
Leading 7-6 with 2:54 to go in the opening frame, the Minutemen erupted for 16 consecutive points and were never threatened in improving their overall record to 10-2.
Now, the Minutemen can look forward to a Northern Lakes Conference showdown at home Friday night against the 10-2 Warsaw Tigers.
Jason Spriggs, 6-8 sophomore, had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Concord while 6-2 freshman DuWhan Alford scored 11 points and 6-5 freshman Franko House nine.
Doug Acker, 6-3 senior, chipped in with 12 points; 5-10 senior Larone Smith 10; and 6-0 senior Jordon Haitsma eight.
“After falling behind 20-4 at Plymouth the other night, we talked about getting off to a much better start,” said Concord coach Steve Austin.
“I was pleased with our effort both offensively and defensively in the first half. I was a little disappointed by our performance in the third quarter, but we expected Central to answer the call and we responded well.
“Our young players continue to get better every game. Our whole team did a good job of reading the offense and looking for options. We wanted to push the ball as much as possible.”
In the last 2:40 of the first quarter Acker drove the middle to score, Haitsma hit a ‘3’ from the top of the circle and scored on a fast break, House tallied off a steal, Smith hit one free throw and Smith two for a 19-6 command.
Acker scored eight points, Alford six and House four in the second quarter as the Minutemen pulled away to a 37-19 halftime lead.
Central was just 4-for-22 from the field in the first half, hitting only one 2-pointer.
The Blazers got untracked after intermission, outscoring Concord 14-8 to get within 45-33 with 2:58 to go in the third quarter. They would get no closer, however.
Josh Riikonen, 6-7 Central standout, tallied 12 points in the third stanza after being held without a field goal in the first half.
Concord finished strongly, taking its biggest lead at 63-42 with 3:33 to play. Smith hit a couple ‘3s’ and Spriggs scored five points in the fourth quarter.
Riikonen finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Blazers while 5-10 junior Chris Holt tallied 10 points and 5-11 junior Satori Stahl nine.
Central coach Matt Windy said, “You can’t come into this gym and get down the way we did. The bottom line is they outworked us more than they outskilled us.
“They beat us down the floor continually and seemed to score on all of their offensive rebounds. Defensively, we missed assignments and they repeatedly beat us off the dribble.
“Our effort and execution was much better in the second half. It’s all about being smart and learning by playing. You have to keep battling and do it every time out.”
Junior Varsity
Concord’s JV improved to 8-2 with a 48-24 victory. Central dropped to 5-6.
Seth Huxford scored 10 points for CHS, Clinton McCray nine, Joe Adams seven, Eric McCray six and Dylan Wynne five. Jordan Johnson tallied 12 and Mike McMahon five for Central.
