Five Takeaways: Easton Valley at Alburnett
ALBURNETT — The fourth ranked team in Class 1A rolled on Tuesday night, as Easton Valley cruised to a 72-53 road win at Alburnett. The River Hawks led wire-to-wire in the win, improving to 6-0 on the season. Despite Alburnett…
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Continue ReadingALBURNETT — The fourth ranked team in Class 1A rolled on Tuesday night, as Easton Valley cruised to a 72-53 road win at Alburnett. The River Hawks led wire-to-wire in the win, improving to 6-0 on the season. Despite Alburnett missing star guard Hunter Caves (out for the year with a torn ACL), it was still an impressive win for Easton Valley over last year’s runner-up in 1A.
The River Hawks used an early second quarter run to gain some separation, using a 10-0 spurt over about two minutes of game time to turn a two-point game into a 12-point game, and they never looked back.
Easton Valley was led by Kaleb Cornilsen, who had a game-high 22 points with 13 rebounds. He led four players in double figures. Jessen Weber added 19 points on just 12 shots. Cade Jargo chipped in 12 points with 8 assists, and Nate Trenkamp played a solid floor game, going for 11 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
Alburnett (4-2) was led by Austin Huber who had 16 points. Shane Neighbor added 15, and Reed Stallman had 7 points and 13 rebounds.
Team | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F |
Easton Valley | 15 | 22 | 22 | 13 | 72 |
Alburnett | 10 | 14 | 12 | 17 | 53 |
Easton Valley: Kaleb Cornilsen 22, Jessen Weber 19, Cade Jargo 12, Nate Trenkamp 11, Braydin Farrell 4, Hunter Holdgrafer 2, Porter Fuegen 2
Alburnett: Austin Huber 16, Shane Neighbor 15, Reed Stallman 7, Blake Sperfslage 7, Grant Soukup 3, Gavin Soukup 3, Andrew Ossman 2
Easton Valley, offensive juggernaut
The River Hawks are a pretty efficient offensive unit, posting 1.35 points per shot in the win (72 points on 53 attempts), and that number could’ve been significantly higher had Cornilsen made a few more of the bunnies that he missed around the rim. This group has a strong interior presence in Cornilsen who they can dump the ball down to for a bucket, and they’re able to surround him with all sorts of shooting. They’re going to score well over 90 points multiple times this season.
River Hawks are well-built
Building off of the offensive juggernaut portion, Easton Valley is a really well-built team in that they have a standout frontcourt player who they can get the ball to when they need a score, and they can surround him with a lot of shooting. The backcourt of Cade Jargo and Nate Trenkamp is really solid. They take care of the ball well and move it. Jargo is exceptionally fast with a great first step, and he has unlimited range. Trenkamp plays with great pace, is a good shooter and sees the floor extremely well. And Jessen Weber is the efficient, do-it-all scorer from the wing who can get red hot and carry a team. He put up 19 points on just 12 shots (1.58 points per shot), and showed the ability to score from all three levels. He moves without the ball really well and is ready to shoot on the catch. They also bring some aggressiveness off the bench in the form of Braydin Ferrell, who looked to attack the rim constantly.
Austin Huber, sharpshooter
With Caves sidelined, even more is falling on the plate of senior guard Austin Huber, and he delivered in this one, knocking down 4-7 3s and showing a nice mid-range jumper as well. He finished with 16 points on 10 shots, and while his form is a bit unusual (think Austin Ash when he was at Mount Vernon), he’s a dead-eye shooter who defenses need to account for.
Alburnett’s season long outlook
The Pirates entered the season ranked #8 in 1A by us, but that was before we knew about the Caves injury. Obviously that’s a significant blow. But this still has the look of a team that could be a dangerous postseason threat. Jeff Christopherson has them running some really good, efficient sets in the halfcourt, and they’re a solid defensive team who just got overwhelmed by a really good offensive team here. Given the right draw, Alburnett could make another state tournament run. Huber is solid, Shane Neighbor is experienced and a solid force in the paint, and he and Reed Stallman are capable of controlling the glass on both ends of the floor. This group will still win plenty of games and be heard from in late February.
Easton Valley’s upside
We were higher than most on the River Hawks heading into the season, ranking them #6 in 1A. And this game showed why we are high on them – the offensive firepower is undeniable. And they can hurt you in a variety of ways. The question will be whether they defend well enough to make a serious run in late February/early March. They use a 3/4 court press to take the offense out of what they want to do, forcing an occasional turnover, but it’s used more like Iowa’s press, to make a team get out of rhythm. The issue comes in the halfcourt, where they can at times get beaten off the dribble, get caught not moving their feet and reaching, or being late on rotations. It’s still fairly early in the season, and those things can get worked out, but they’ll need to improve in the halfcourt defense if they want to reach their full potential. This offensive unit is good enough to win the 1A state title, especially given that there is no Grand View Christian standing in the way anymore. The defense will be what decides their fate.