Wolverines back on track with Stanton win
MALVERN — The East Mills Wolverines boys basketball team got back to its winning way and regained some of its focus with a 57-46 victory over Stanton last Tuesday at East Mills High School.
East Mills hadn’t played for a week after getting eliminated uncharacteristically early in the Corner Conference tournament, while Stanton was fresh off a third place finish.
East Mills boys’ basketball coach Kevin Schafer said his team got right at it in practice after the quarterfinal loss to Clarinda Academy.
“We tried to be a little more physical in practice,” Schafer said. “When you get knocked out that early, sometimes there’s a reason for it. You have things to work on. We looked at it that way and we needed to get better.”
The Wolverines got a big night out of guard Logan Currin, who scored 25 points, including 16 in the first half.
Currin has had his struggles this season, dealing with a sprained ankle for more than a month.
“Since he’s sprained his ankle, that’s the best game he’s had,” Schafer said about Currin.
The guard got hot out of the gates scoring East Mills’ first six points.
Stanton relied on Brady Johnson and Peter Sorensen to stay within reach, but a late jumper by Currin gave the Wolverines a 17-12 lead after one quarter.
“He elevated on his jump shots, got squared up, taking the type of shot that he could make,” Schafer said.
Currin hit two three-pointers during the second quarter as East Mills kept Stanton in check, allowing six points and entering halftime with a 30-18 lead.
The scoring slowed down slightly for Currin in the third quarter, but with assistance from both Noah Meyer and Keegan Wederquist they were able to maintain a 40-28 lead entering the final quarter.
Schafer said Wederquist had been dealing with illness. Despite that, Wederquist finished with eight points.
“He wasn’t playing a hundred percent, but he was playing smart,” Schafer said.
Meyer added 14 points.
Stanton tried to close the gap as both David and Peter Sorensen stepped up and made shots.
The Vikings needed to step up as leading scorer Johnson picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter. He would eventually foul out with a minute left in the game as Johnson led with 15 points.
David Sorensen scored 11 points, while Peter Sorensen had eight. Conner Hultman scored seven points for Stanton.
Stanton got the lead down to single-digits, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Wolverines held on to complete the regular season sweep of the Vikings.
The Vikings got back on track with a 73-55 victory against Essex Thursday night. However, they lost 52-43 Friday night in Tabor to the Fremont-Mills Knights.
East Mills meanwhile cruised to a 67-27 win Thursday night over South Page and defeated Sidney 56-49.
He finished with 16 for the game, while Currin scored a game-high 21.