Five Takeaways: Indianola 75 vs Carlisle 61
Carlisle — It was an electric atmosphere for this one, mostly because the Indianola fans were going nuts for each of Evan Gauger’s six — six — dunks. The Northern Iowa recruit was absolutely dynamic tonight, throwing down baseline alley-oops, blow by…
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Continue ReadingCarlisle — It was an electric atmosphere for this one, mostly because the Indianola fans were going nuts for each of Evan Gauger’s six — six — dunks.
The Northern Iowa recruit was absolutely dynamic tonight, throwing down baseline alley-oops, blow by slams and breakaway jams en route to a co-team-high 24 points. His backcourt mate Quinn Vesey also scored 24, thanks in large part to his five 3-balls.
The game was tight in the first quarter, and Carlisle led 21-18 after one. But then the Indians got cookin’, and at one point bridged the second and third quarters with a whopping 30-4 run. It was more or less over by the time that was finished.
Collin Lister was marvelous for the Wildcats, scoring a game-high 39 points, that after he poured in 43 in a game just nine days ago. But he was the only Wildcat that reached double figures.
With the loss, Carlisle goes into the Winter Break with a 3-5 record, they’ve lost four straight. Indianola improves to 6-1, and will play at Grinnell tomorrow night ahead of the break.
Team Scoring
Indianola — 18 24 21 12 — 75
Carlisle — 21 12 10 18 — 61
Individual Scoring
Indianola: Evan Gauger 24, Quinn Vesey 24, AJ Toigo 12, Tyce Johnson 11, Garrett Aiello 2, Matt Deike 2.
Carlisle: Collin Lister 39, Hayden Amos 9, Trenton Bock 6, Nolan Brunsen 4, Nate Norton 4.
Five Takeaways
Evan Gauger, One for the Ages
Indianola senior guard and Northern Iowa recruit Evan Gauger has always been one of our favorite players, and tonight he justified every ounce of that sentiment. He was an absolute beast, showcasing his high-level athleticism and hammering home, amazingly, six dunks in the win, sending his student section into frenzy with each and every one. When we first saw Gauger as a freshman, he was a strikingly skilled player with a lot of potential. Now, though still very skilled, it’s the 6’2 guard’s athleticism that’s striking. It’s hard to believe he didn’t have a Division I offer to his name before UNI scooped him up. The Panthers did well to get him on board.
Evan Gauger just went sky high to throw down a baseline alley-oop and he got way way above the rim. That’s the best thing I’ve seen yet this season good grief . Tyce Johnson with the dime #iahsbkb
— TJ Rushing (@TjRushing) December 21, 2018
Gauger and Vesey Elite
We’re not sure if seniors Evan Gauger and Quinn Vesey are best friends, but the way they interact and mesh together on the court, they very well may be. Their chemistry as a back court is off the charts, and there were several occasions when one was assisting the other. It just so happens that they are the two best players on the team (thinks in large part to the way they play together). When they’re both cookin’ the way they were tonight, Indianola will extremely tough to beat.
If Vesey gets going they are a almost impossible to beat. Been saying that for 3 years
— Dajuan Foster (@dfoster510) December 21, 2018
The Barn
I got lucky to get a front row parking spot right outside what I thought was the high school. When I got out of my car, saw the building’s metal siding and heard a pep band clearly playing through them, I knew it must be the gym: I was intrigued. I got inside, walked past the concession area, and bam, right into “The Barn.” I knew right away, it was gonna be wild in there. It’s small, therefore it was packed. The ceiling is dark wood, there’s oversize wooded beams holding it all together. Noise bounces around in there, especially when the large pep band is blasting Rage Against The Machine medleys. Against the back wall of the home-team side are four wooded benches, no one was sitting in them, but I thought about going up there and taking a seat on my own. I was informed on Twitter that this is the last season the Wildcats will play there, a new facility is being built. That’s too bad, The Barn is one of the best environments I’ve ever been in.
Pep band is great & the atmosphere is even better. Love coaching there even with how tough it is. Kind of sad they’ll have a awesome new facility next year.—The Barn is something special.
— Nate (@WallCoach) December 21, 2018
Collin Lister is Big Productive
This senior guard has been putting up numbers for a while now, but he’s taking it to a new level this season. We knew he’d post some high marks this season, so we weren’t too surprised with the 43 point outburst against ADM a week-and-a-half ago; and we expected a big game today, but not another dang near 40-pointer. There was a point in the first quarter when when Lister scored seven points in the same time it took to get out a tweet about about Evan Gauger’s first dunk, that’s when we knew it might be another special night for the 6-foot-3 Lister. And even in defeat, it was a special night. He was scoring from everywhere, with his specialty a mid-range push-shot that he can get whenever he wants. An open look for 3 from him is dangerous, too. Lister’s going to have a very productive 2019.
Lost in all this Gauger dynamism is the fact that Carlisle’s Collin Lister has 33 points with 5 mins left still #iahsbkb
— TJ Rushing (@TjRushing) December 21, 2018
Tyce, is Nice
Evan Gauger and Quinn Vesey are going to get the big numbers and the headlines this season, but it’s plain to see where the future of Indianola basketball lies, and that’s in the hands of junior sharpshooter Tyce Johnson. We saw him play this past summer at the Simpson Team Camp, and we had a feeling he was really good player; turns out, he is. His role right now it to be a third scoring option, and with his butter stroke from deep, that’s something he’s certainly capable of excelling at. His alley-oop pass from 25-feet out to Gauger at the start of the game was on a dime. And he showed he could handle the ball a bit, too. We predict the 6-foot-2 guard will average around 20 points per game next season.