Spoofhounds continue to develop depth at Doane Holiday Tournament

By Jon Dykstra | December 28, 2024 |

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Maryville coach Matt Stoecklein patrols the sideline on Saturday in Crete, Neb.

CRETE, Neb. — Replacing five of their top-7 minute-per-game players last season, the obvious question going into the season for the Spoofhounds was — who fills out the starting lineup around seniors Lucas Vierthaler and Matthew Walter?

But it is very difficult to play a basketball season with only five players, so even with Jackson Dredge, Colsen Freeman and Miles Poynter stepping up in those roles, filling out the entire rotation requires even more players to grow up fast and take on big roles. Despite a pair of losses in the Doane Holiday Tournament, Maryville is heading into January with more answers as to who the Hounds can trust off the bench.

“We can come in and we can feel like the game changes whenever we come in sometimes,” Spoofhound sophomore Carson Hageman said.

On Saturday, Maryville fell 53-37 to Crete. The Cardinals used their tremendous frontline size with 6-9 Oliver Oglesby, 6-6 Justus Gardiner and 6-4 Kenson Spence starting and 6-5 Corbin Cole as the team’s sixth man to frustrate the Spoofhounds and cut off the paint.

Maryville was unable to generate a single point in the paint in the first half or shoot a free throw in the first half. Five of the team’s six makes in the opening half were 3-pointers with the only other one coming on a blocked shot which came out to Carson Hageman, who hit a long 2-point jumper off the chaos.

“We move the ball, but we are not looking to score,” Maryville coach Matt Stoecklein said. “… We got to find roles and I think everything will flow much easier once we do that.”

Junior Kolby Scadden was comfortable off the bench with his shot and hit 3-pointers in both the first and second quarters to lead Maryville in scoring in the first half. The Spoofhounds went into the break down 23-17.

“I had my opportunity and I was open, so I just shot them,” Scadden said.

Walter immediately cut that lead in half with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer to open the third quarter. Crete’s inside game was too tough though and that was as close as the game would get.

Sophomore Luke Allen had four third-quarter points to attempt to keep pace, but Crete junior guard Carter Rezny found his rhythm getting to the basket after three first-half 3-pointers. A Rezny layup made it 31-22 midway through the third.

Hageman took on the challenge of guarding Rezny in the second half and was able to draw an offensive foul and frustrate the point guard while running him off the 3-point stripe.

“He is a good shooter and he is quick, very quick,” Hageman said. “He can jump. He can pretty much do any type of scoring that he wants to. I came off the bench and just wanted to guard somebody. That is what I love doing. I love trying to make people mad off the bench and make them hate me guarding them.”

Jackson Wilmes, Hageman, Scadden and Allen all played at least 10 minutes off the bench and made contributions.

Walter finished with 11 points while Scadden and Vierthaler had six each, Dredge and Allen had five each while Freeman and Hageman both had two.

Maryville will be back in Nebraska on Thursday for the Southeast Nebraska Shootout at Auburn where they’ll face Falls City.

“It lets us see what we can work on,” Scadden said of the busy schedule over break. “We will go into practice and work on some things. It prepares us for the better teams in the MEC.”