IOLA — Taking home their second piece of hardware this season, the Humboldt Cubs boys won the War on 54 title by beating Anderson County, 57-53, on Friday night.
“It’s really nice and I’m just happy for the kids,” Humboldt head coach Dave Taylor said. “We battled and made a few mistakes. But they battled back and kept doing the things they needed to do. I’m happy that they won and it was a fun game to watch.”
Tre Franklin led the Cubs in scoring with 16 points while Colden Cook added a double-double with 15 points and a dozen rebounds.
Humboldt led, 37-25, at halftime before Anderson County mounted a comeback. Taylor praised the Cubs’ depth for withstanding and maintaining the lead.
“Colden got a little flustered, but Avery (Works) comes in and does a really nice job,” Taylor said. “He made some really big plays. Blake (Ellis) played well. Really, everybody played well. I’m happy with how we played as a whole.”
Taylor added that he felt the Cubs executed at finding shooters on kick-outs.
“I’m still old-school because I want to compress the defense and flatten it,” Taylor said. “The kids did a great job of that, today.”
Noah Porter led Anderson County with 19 points.
Up next
Humboldt, now 11-1 on the year, rematches with Anderson County on Tuesday in Garnett.
“We have to rebound better,” Taylor said. “If we can sustain ourselves, it’ll make things easier. We’ll see what we can do. But rebounding is a big thing. So is taking care of the ball.”
