The Morton Indians hosted the Sundown Roughnecks for a district basketball matchup this past Tuesday night, with the Indians coming out on top, 73-49.
The win improves the Indians to 7-13 overall and 2-2 in district play, placing them fourth in the 2A District 5 standings, while the loss drops the Roughnecks to 10-9 overall and 1-3 in district play, placing them sixth in the 2A District 5 standings.
Following the win, Indians Head Basketball Coach Andrew Brockman gave Sundown respect, calling them “an always well coached team,” and he also noted his excitement that his team is now fully healthy.
Brayden Villareal, saw his first action for the Indians this season coming off an injury, and his presence immediately showed its impact.
Coach Brockman said they’ll continue to mesh now as they’re finally fully healthy, but a 34-point win isn’t a bad start.
Statistical standouts for the Indians included Travion Holland with 20 points on 7/10 shooting from the field and 5/8 shooting from three, adding 10 rebounds and six assists, EJ Rivas with 16 points, seven assists, three steals and two rebounds, and Jaeden Alvarado with 14 points on 6/10 shooting from the field, adding nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Other scorers for the Indians included Britton Boggs with 13 points, Villareal with eight points and Rafael Acevedo with two points.
It was a great team performance by Morton as they bested Sundown in the majority of the team stats. The Indians outshot them 42% to 31% from the field and 35% to 25% from three, while also winning the battles in free throws, transition points, points in the paint, rebounds, assists and steals.
On the Roughnecks side of things, it was overall a tough game, but there were positives and lessons learned in the loss.
“We played really well for good portions of the game,” Roughnecks Head Basketball Coach Kyle Igo said. “We’re having to learn to maintain consistency and continuing to execute for 32 minutes. The kids are battling; we will continue to work hard and seek ways to sharpen up.”
Standouts for the Roughnecks included Isaiah Igo with 16 points on 6/11 shooting from the field powered by four three-pointers made, Kye Powell with eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal, Brock Bufe with eight points, seven rebounds, an assist and a steal, and Nathan Mc-Adams with six points and four rebounds.
Following the game, the Roughnecks will be back in action over the weekend for a district game against Whiteface, while the Indians have a bye and then return on Tuesday at home versus Whiteface at 8 p.m.