Falls City earned their tenth-straight victory Saturday with a 24-point romp of Elmwood-Murdock, 54-30, at McIntyre-Henderson Field House.
The seventh-ranked Tigers improved to 14-1 for the second year in a row and with nine regular season games remaining, appear poised to easily eclipse the 20-win mark for the second consecutive season.
Dominance might be an understatement during the Tigers 10-game run. FC has won by an average of 25. 7 points per game and held all but two opponents to fewer than 40 points, and six of the 10 to 34 or fewer.
Mitchell Harling finished 6-of-11 from the floor and 7-for-8 at the free-throw line Saturday to lead all scorers with 20 points. The Tiger senior also dished out four assists and defensively, accounted for five of FC’s nine steals.
Tiger junior Jack Hartman also finished in double figures with 15 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds.
The Tigers finished 18 of 32 from the floor shooting (56 percent) and forced 20 E-M turnovers.
Weston Witt’s 4-for-5 performance from downtown was tops Friday in a 60-39 dismantling of the normally tough Maryville (MO) Spoofhounds. Witt, a junior, was 6-10 shooting overall and recorded three steals defensively.
The Tigers, who outscored the Spoofhounds 27-8 in the third quarter to blow the game wide open, also got double-digit point totals from Harling (13) and senior Reese Hogue (10).
FC converted 26 of 51 shots from the floor, which made up for an unusual off-night at the charity stripe, where they were just 1-of-6.
Hogue and Hartman pulled down five rebounds each, while Harling tallied six assists.
Last Tuesday, in a non-home home game at Prichard Auditorium, the Tigers appeared unphased by the different surroundings in a 66-32 victory over Tri County.
Witt and Hogue were the lone Tigers to score in double figures, each finishing with 13 points, while Hartman added nine points, 11 rebounds and four steals.
Witt’s damage again came from behind the arc where he was perfect (3-3) and now sits at just over 43 percent from downtown on the season.
Harling led the playmaking with seven assists.
The Tigers look to keep marching along this week during the annual Raider Classic in Seneca, KS. FC is the top seed in the tournament and face winless St. Mary’s (KS) at 3:30 this afternoon. No. 4 Jackson Heights (8-2) and No. 5 Horton (5-2) will follow the FC game at 5 p.m.
The bottom half of the bracket includes No. 3 Silver Lake (6-1) against No. 6 Marysville (2-6) at 6:30, followed by No. 2 Nemaha Valley (7-1) versus No. 7 Hiawatha (1-7) at 8 p.m. Nemaha Valley, the defending champs, enter the week ranked seventh in Class 3A in the latest KBCA rankings.
With a win tonight, FC plays at 6:30 Thursday night and the championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.
SCORING
FC 54, E-M 30
FC – Harling 20, Hartman 15, Hogue 7, DiGiacomo 5, Stutheit 4, Stoller 2, Gibson 1.
E-M – Rust 6, Bruns 6, Goudie 5, Ritnour4, Oehlerking4, Dwyer 3, Stroy 2.
FC 60, Maryville 39
FC – Witt 16, Harling 13, Hogue 10, Mount 7, DiGiacomo 6, Hartman 4, Stoller 4.
Maryville – Dunlap 12, Snow 7, Cacek 6, Worthington 4, Morrison 3, Oglesby 3, Hilsabeck 2, Schreck 2.
FC 66, Tri County 32
FC – Witt 13, Hogue 13, Hartman 9, DiGiacomo 7, Stoller 7, Harling 5, Mount 5, Jordening 4, Heckenlively 3.
TC – Starkey 10, Kowalski 8, Johnsen 6, Epp 4, Barr 4.
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