Howells-Dodge Boys lose at North Bend Central; defeat Wakefield

The Howells-Dodge Boys lost 62-47 at North Bend Central Thursday night before beating Wakefield 57-50 at home Friday night.

The Tigers doubled up the Jaguars 22-11 in the first quarter. Both teams scored 12 points in the second quarter to make it a 34-23 game at halftime in favor of North Bend Central.

The Tigers outscored Howells-Dodge 28-24 in the second half.

Connor Blum had a team-high 22 points while Zach Bayer totaled 7. Lane Hegemann notched 7 rebounds.

The Trojans led the Jaguars 11-10 at the end of one before winning the second quarter 7-3 to lead 18-13 at halftime.

Howells-Dodge outscored Wakefield 20-12 in the third quarter to go up 33-30 at the end of three.

The Jaguars notched 24 points in the fourth quarter compared to 20 for the Trojans.

Dax VanLengen registered 19 points and 10 rebounds, good enough for a double-double. Kade Hegemann added 10 points while Lane Hegemann recorded 8 points and 10 rebounds. Blum chipped in 7 points and 8 rebounds.

Head Coach Cole Fischer says this was a big win. "This was a tale of two halves and the boys gutted a win out. It's a win that should give us some confidence heading into the last part of the season."

Howells-Dodge (10-11) hosts Lutheran High Northeast (17-3) Friday night in the regular season finale.

The Eagles won 54-41 at Hartington Cedar Catholic on Saturday.

This figures to be a really tough game for the Jaguars as LHNE has won 8 in a row.

It's not a game Howells-Dodge can't win though, in my opinion.

The Jaguars have played very good basketball at times this year, and if Howells-Dodge is on top of their game and brings their best effort Friday night, they could find themselves on the winning end of things.

This is a good test for the Jaguars heading into Sub-Districts, in my opinion.

Howells-Dodge has a date with Battle Creek next Tuesday, and playing the Eagles should test and help prepare the Jaguars for the game with the Braves.

Howells-Dodge's confidence would have to be at an all-time high heading into the Battle Creek game if they could knock off LHNE.

The Jaguars beat Humphrey St. Francis earlier this season so it's certainly a possibility for Howells-Dodge to beat the Eagles as well, in my opinion.

The Jaguars need the same type of offensive production from multiple players that they got against Wakefield.

If Blum, VanLengen, Bayer, and Kade and Lane Hegemann can all score in double figures or close to it, Howells-Dodge figures to be in good shape.

I really think the Jaguars can make a postseason run like they did last year. I feel Howells-Dodge got back on track with the Wakefield win, and has what it takes to keep things going Friday night and into next week.