Central Lakes put on an offensive show in the second half of Wednesday night's 102-75 win over the Riverland Blue Devils.
The first half was well played by the Riverland men and they were only down by nine points at halftime. The visitors then scored 59 points in the second half and turned the game into a rout.
Riverland coach Dan Swift had a good gameplan as his team utilized a slower pace in the first half. Nicco Montgomery hit a three-pointer to bring the Blue Devils within 13-9 in the opening four minutes.
Richard Burch had a basket and Josh Davis made a pair of free throws to keep it close. The Blue Devils were down only 14-13 with 14:23 left. Nash Faulk hit a trey for the visitors, but Chris Jahr fired back with a basket for the home team.
This trend continued throughout the half. DeAaron Hearn, who led the Blue Devils with 23 points, scored on the fastbreak with four minutes left. This made it a 33-28 deficit, then Central Lakes raced off on a 10-2 run.
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Jahr hit the last two baskets of the first half to bring the deficit for the Blue Devils back under double-digits, but they would get no closer. The visitors opened with a 7-0 run in the second half. Kendall Brown, a 6-foot-7 center, was a force inside and his hoop made it a 50-34 lead.
A basket from Hearn and a couple of free throws by Davis got the deficit back to a dozen. It hovered around that range for a few minutes, but things soon got out of hand.
Denzel Smith canned a trey to bring the Blue Devils within 52-41 with three minutes elapsed. Central Lakes then went on a 20-3 run over the next six minutes on its way past the century mark.
This was the fourth straight loss for the Blue Devils as they fell to a 3-6 record in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference, South Division.
Central Lakes 102, Riverland 75
CENTRAL LAKES (102)
Nash Faulk 18, Kendall Brown 14, Marcus Ayala 13, Maurice Hernandez 12, Kwamaine Johnson 11, Anthony Kelley 10, Nick Grewe 10, Milton Moorer 4, Ronnie Kornbaum 4, John Hicks 2, Justin Doyle 2, Steven Halwood 2.
RIVERLAND (75)
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DeAaron Hearn 23, Denzel Smith 18, Chris Jahr 9, Nicco Montgomery 7, Richard Burch 6, Josh Davis 5, Jordan Jarland 5, Taylor Oetken 2.
Halftime:CL 43, Riverland 34.
Free throws:CL 21-30, RIV 24-35.
Three-point goals:CL 7-23 (Faulk 2, Hernandez 2, Kelley 2, Johnson 1). RIV 5-22 (Smith 2, Jarland 1, Hearn 1, Montgomery 1).
Rebounds:CL 53 (Brown 10); RIV 43 (Davis 10).
Turnovers:CL 11, Riverland 25.
