Warhawks final post-season tune-up

SHEFFIELD — A spirited second-half rally by Forest City gave West Fork’s boys’ basketball team a taste of what it could face in the Warhawks’ post-season.

Leading by 15 heading into the final quarter, particularly with a half-court prayer that went for the Indians’ Andrew Snyder, the visitors outscored coach Frank Schnoes’ squad, 17-8, in the final eight minutes for a 58-52 final.

“It woke them up, I don’t know,” Schnoes said of Snyder’s long-range three. “Of course, it switched at halftime. This basket (indicating the one closest to the main scoreboard) you couldn’t make a shot. That one, you could. When we switched, the shots we were making, they were making and the ones they were missing, we were missing.”

A lot of that final stanza Schnoes attributed to the lack of his team’s patience.

“We were throwing it up and no one was there to rebound, so they went down to score,” Schnoes said. “One pass, one shot, they went down and scored again. We disappeared from the pass.

“Late in the game, the kids did enough right things. They are a veteran group and have been in situations like this. It’s a good learning experience.”

The Warhawks had a big enough cushion from a 36-13 halftime lead.

“We really played a good first half, especially defensively,” Schnoes said. “Second half, looked a little tired, didn’t have as many rebounds as we should have. It’s a good win. Forest City is a good ball club, they’ve always been. Good to get a win.”

The game saw the return of Joe Ingham, who had missed the previous three games. He scored 10 points, adding seven rebounds and four assists in the victory.

“He is (feeling) all right. I probably could have played him Tuesday a little bit…I wanted to be sure he was ready for Monday. See how he is by Wednesday. Last night in practice, he looked fine. He’s not a flashy-type player, but he missed three games in a row and we really missed him in those games.

“He’s a real force around the basket and nice to have him back and have his shots around the basket.”

Moving forward, the Warhawks had a district opener against St. Ansgar, which took the play-in game over Riceville that same night.

“We were supposed to play them again,” Schnoes said of the Saints. “That was the one game we didn’t make up. We’ll be ready for them. We know each other real well. No surprises there.”

Kayden Ames, who shared the team lead in scoring with 12 with Jakob Washington, said he was ready for the post-season.

“I think we have a lot of seniors and we realize that it’s almost over and don’t want to end not on top,” Ames said, “so we’re putting everything into it 100 percent.”

West Fork improved to 17-3 overall and ended the regular season on a six-game win streak.

West Fork 58

Forest City 52

Forest City (12-9) — Brandon Leber 2-4 1-2 7, Noah Miller 8-21 2-3 22, Truman Knudtson 1-2 0-0 2, Carter Bruckhoff 2-11 0-0 6, Andrew Snyder 6-12 1-2 13, Brock Sobek 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Olson 1-4 0-0 2, Carson Strukel 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan West 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 3-5 52.

West Fork (17-3)— Cail Weaver 4-9 1-3 9, Kayden Ames 4-10 0-0 12, Jakob Washington 6-12 0-2 12, Ren Heimer 2-5 4-4 8, Joe Ingham 4-9 2-2 10, Noah Maske 2-3 1-1 5, Colin Martinek 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-50 8-12 58.

Three-point goals— FC 9-29 (Miller 4-12, Leber 2-3, Bruckhoff 2-11, Snyder 1-2, Knudtson 0-1); WF 4-17 (Ames 4-9, Weaver 0-1, Martinek 0-1, Washington 0-3, Heimer 0-3). Rebounds— FC 26 (Snyder 12, Leber 5, Olson 4, Miller 2, Knudtson 2, Bruckhoff); WF 35 (Washington 12, Ingham 7, Weaver 5, Ames 5, Heimer 3, Maske, Martinek). Assists— FC 9 (Miller 5, Leber, Bruckhoff, Snyder, Olson); WF 15 (Weaver 6, Ingham 4, Washington 3, Ames 2). Steals— FC 8 (Olson 3, Bruckhoff 2, Leber, Miller, Snyder); WF 6 (Weaver 2, Heimer 2, Washington, Ingham). Blocks— FC 2 (Bruckhoff, Snyder); WF 2 Ingham 2). Total fouls— FC 11, WF 3. Fouled out— None.