Two days after one of its best games of the season, the Centennial boys’ basketball team struggled to score.
The Broncos defeated David City Aquinas 65-46 Feb. 20 to open subdistrict play, then lost to Cross County 49-26 Feb. 22 to end the season at 14-10.
Coach Cam Scholl said Aquinas was a scary team to start postseason play against. The Monarchs have good athletes on their team and have showed good offense.
“We played pretty well overall,” he said.
The CHS defense gave up some transition points in the first half and didn’t play to the level the coaches expect, Scholl said.
“We were better in the second half, and got a groove offensively,” he said.
Centennial led 28-25 at halftime but pulled away in the second half.
Alex Hirschfeld was two rebounds short of a triple double with 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds Devin Slawnyk put up a double double with 18 points and 18 rebounds. Also reaching double figures in scoring were Sam Ehlers with 11 and Ryan Richters and Camden Winkelman with 10 each.
“Aquinas had to pressure, and we were able to get by them,” Scholl said. “This was one of our more complete games of the season and the most points all year. It was a good time to have it.”
The momentum shifted to the other side of the gym Thursday against Cross County. The Centennial offense sputtered against a defense that shut down everything it tried.
“Defensively we did what we wanted to,” Scholl said.
The Broncos shot poorly all night, he said. CHS made no three pointers in 11 attempts and was 9-25 from two.
“You have to shoot well to advance, and we didn’t,” Scholl said. “We got beat by a better team.”
Hirschfeld scored 17 to lead Centennial. Slawnyk added seven points, and Winkelman scored two.
Centennial will graduate two seniors – Alex Hirschfeld and Bryson Hornbacher.
“Both showed tremendous improvement from last year,” Scholl said.
In looking ahead, CHS returns three starters and five of its top seven including Devin Slawnyk, Sam Ehlers, Ryan Richters and Camden Winkelman.
“We’re very excited about who’s coming back,” Scholl said. “A lot have been around the program as student managers since third grade. We hope we can continue to build.”
He said the team will need to put in some offseason work to see improvement, however.
In looking back at the 2023-24 season, Scholl described it as successful.
“This was an extremely fun group to coach and one of the more consistent we’ve had,” he said.
