#11 IMS used hot shooting to get out to an early lead and suffocating defense in the final three quarters to pull away from HLV Thursday night in Kalona, winning their first round district game 85-48. Both teams came out lighting it up from the floor in the first quarter with IMS leading 26-18 after the first eight minutes, thanks to 16 points from Peyton Thompson in the quarter. Thompson, who ended with a game high 25 points and seven three point goals spoke after the game about his and his team’s offensive night.
“We got inside at the beginning of the game a little bit and that helped us out,” Thompson said. “Our team worked the ball around really well in the first quarter, we got a lot of fast break points that helped too, that spread their defense out.”
As a team IMS ended with a dozen three pointers. IMS pulled away in the second quarter putting together a 17-4 run that lasted the entire frame, led by their defense. That run continued into the early part of the third quarter. IMS eclipsed the 35 point margin early in the fourth quarter to enact the continuous clock the rest of the way. After the game IMS Head Coach Dwight Gingerich talked about his team’s effort.
“Second quarter we really bucked down defensively, we did a much better job of playing sticky defense just closing down on the shooters, not allowing them to catch the ball in a position to shoot it,” Gingerich said. “I think over time we were able to wear them down a little bit, we were able to go to our bench and keep guys relatively fresh, and I thought our guys really responded and were able to play well together defensively and on the offensive end the ball movement was very good.”
Two other IMS players joined Thompson in double figures as Cameron Gingerich poured in 18 and Joel Shetler had 10. IMS is now 20-2 on the year and will be in action Tuesday night at home against BGM who was a 64-57 winner over Iowa Valley Thursday night. You can hear all of the action live on AM and FM KCII with the Mercy Services of Kalona Pregame Show at 6:30 and tip off live at 7PM.