Jets VS Southern & NCL
Friday & Saturday, Jan. 22 & 23, 2010

Jets roll in weekend victories

The Sterling Boys basketball team notched a pair of wins over the weekend, downing Southern last Friday night 67-48 and Nebraska City Lourdes 53-36 Saturday.  With the wins, the Jets moved their record to 10-3 on the season.
Head Coach Jimmy Motz was very proud of his team’s effort and energy over the weekend.
“I thought our effort and energy was the difference” said Motz.  “We had guys flying around defensively, we made more plays and executed offensively.  We definitely took some strides and got better.  Our practices have been more upbeat and competitive and it’s starting to show in games.”

SOUTHERN
Sterling scrapped and clawed for three quarters before pulling away in its 19 point victory.  
Only leading by seven points at the half, Sterling outscored Southern 31-19 in the second half, and held Southern without a field for the first six and a half minutes of the fourth quarter.
“I liked our intensity on defense in the second half” Motz said.  “We didn’t allow easy baskets and we limited them to one shot on their offensive possessions.  Plus, we rebounded the ball too and made the hustle plays.”
The Jets were led by Jake Wirthele, who had a game high 24 points, along with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.  Wirthele scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half and finished the game 9 of 15 from the field.
Zach Lempka recorded another double double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.  Lempka also had four assists in the contest.
Klay Heusman added 9 points and Connor Malone chipped in with 8 points and seven rebounds.
Sterling shot the ball 46 percent from the field.

NEBRASKA CITY LOURDES
The Jets controlled the tempo of the game at both ends of the floor and had balanced scoring in its 17 point win over Class C-2 contender Lourdes.  
After leading 8-4 at the end of the first quarter, the Jets found themselves down 11-8 after the Knights went on a 7-0 run to start the second quarter.  However, Sterling scored the next 20 points, sparked by big three point shots from Klay Heusman, Colin Vangroningen, and Austin Magill.
Sterling led by 12 at half and by 18 at the end of three quarters.  
“It was I felt our best overall performance so far this year” said Motz.  “I thought the kids did a nice job of making plays for one another and they got after it defensively.  That was a really good win for us because Lourdes has beaten some very good teams.  We might end up seeing them again possibly in two weeks.”
Three Jets were in double figures for the game, led by Heusman who scored 11 points.  Connor Malone and Zach Lempka added 10 a piece and Jake Wirthele had 9 points.
“Having three players in double figures is always a good thing” said Motz.  “We don’t need to rely on one guy having to do everything.  Good teams have good balance.”

                1   2   3   4   F
Southern 19 10 11  8  48
Sterling   22 14 16 15  67
S- Salberg 5, Wirthele 24, Magill 2, Heusman 9, Vangroningen 1, Malone 8, Lempka 16, J. Parrish 2
                    1   2    3   4   F
Sterling         8  21 15   9  53
NC Lourdes 4  13   9  10 36
S- Salberg 1, Wirthele 9, Magill 3, Heusman 11, Vangroningen 6, Malone 10, Lempka 10, J. Parrish 3