Ram tough: Talented Southeast Polk drops OHS in season opener

BY KELLY TERPSTRA, Courier sports writer

OTTUMWA — Hurl or hoist.

When it’s the Southeast Polk Rams, it’s goin’ up — from deep.

Head coach B.J Windhorst’s Class 4A power demonstrated a simple lesson for the Ottumwa boys basketball team in its season opener on Friday night — don’t leave your feet.

Pump fake, swish.

That scenario played out numerous times for Polk (2-0) as they blitzed the Bulldogs 70-45 at Evans Middle School.

Polk will almost certainly be ranked when the Associated Press releases its first rankings of the winter hoops season on Monday.

The Rams’ Blake Huser drilled six from long-range and led all scorers with 24 points. His marksmanship from outside fueled 11 3-point makes for Polk. The Rams connected on 13 makes from deep in their season-opening rout of Des Moines East last Tuesday.

OHS head coach Chris Gravett talked about staying in position to give oneself a chance to defend the outside shot.

“One thing we teach is when you close out on shooters, never leave your feet unless they do. You always stay on the ground. We didn’t do a very good job of that tonight,” said Gravett, in his second season at Ottumwa.

Three consecutive 3-pointers ignited a 17-0 run that blew the doors wide open after Ottumwa had led by as many as eight points early on.

“Any kind of open look, it was going down. I don’t think they missed any open shots,” said Gravett.

A 6-6 tie was unlocked after a Michael Wetrich long-range bomb from beyond the arc found its mark. Adam Goodvin would throw another 3-pointer down on the next possession and the Bulldogs had the Rams on their heels. Ben Ryder’s putback put Ottumwa up 14-6.

Blake Miller’s strong post move for two points with 40 ticks left on the first-quarter clock would be the last field goal for OHS until Wetrich’s driving layup with 3:20 left in the first half.

The score was 31-20 at that point.

A 7-0 run, capped by another Wetrich layup closed Ottumwa to within 31-25 with two minutes remaining before intermission.

A 12-0 run broke Ottumwa’s back, just 1:00 left in the third quarter and the score 50-29 in Polk’s favor.

“We had some breakdowns and all of the sudden the momentum starts to swing,” said Gravett, a 1996 OHS grad.

Wetrich finished with 17 points to lead Ottumwa. He shot 6-16 from the field with three 3-pointers.

OHS forward Justin Rusch pitched in with eight points on a perfect 4-4 shooting.

Ottumwa’s 6-8 senior center, Ben Ryder, could never get in the flow after getting hit with his third foul with five minutes to go in the second half. He ended up with just five points.

Polk’s Jake Guenther scored all of his 13 points in the second half. Kody Ingle also produced 13 points for Polk.

Polk finished 11-25 from three-point land and was 22-50 overall from the field. The Rams were 15-17 from the charity stripe.

“When they’re shooting the basketball like that, they’re definitely a state tournament quality team,” said Gravett.

Ottumwa (0-1) plays at Fairfield today in a girl/boy doubleheader in Jefferson County.

Southeast Polk 70, Ottumwa 45

SEP 14 20 20 16 — 70

OTT 16 9 9 11 — 45

SOUTHEAST POLK (70) — Blake Huser 8-12 2-2 24, Kody Ingle 3-12 6-7 13, Jake Guenther 5-7 0-0 13, Michael Pavon 3-7 2-2 9, Austin McCarl 1-2 3-4 5, Grant Shivers 2-6 0-0 4, Nate Greim 0-0 2-2 2, Cameron Wright 0-2 0-0 0, Tevin-Cee Mincy 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Leighter 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Barnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 15-17 70.

3-point goals — 11-25 (Huser 6, Guenther 3, Ingle, Pavon). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — 27 (Huser 5, Guenther 4, Shivers 4, Greim 4). Steals — 6 (Pavon 4). Total fouls — 14. Turnovers — 8.

OTTUMWA (45) — Michael Wetrich 6-16 2-2 17, Justin Rusch 4-4 0-0 8, Adam Goodvin 3-6 0-0 7, Ben Ryder 1-3 3-4 5, Blake Miller 2-5 0-0 4, Jordan McDonald 1-1 0-0 2, Aaron Keith 0-2 1-2 1, Ben Kramer 0-2 1-2 1, Zach Throckmorton 0-5 0-0 0, Erik Thorgaard 0-2 0-0 0, Nathan Jay 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Granneman 0-0 0-0 0, J.C. Salter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 7-10 45.

3-point goals — 4-14 (Wetrich 3, Goodvin). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — 27 (Miller 6, Goodvin 4, Ryder 4). Steals — 3. Total fouls — 19. Turnovers — 16.

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