Cowboys drop Panthers

The Abilene Cowboys, going wire to wire, handed the Concordia Panthers a 74-37 North Central Kansas League loss Friday night in the Concordia Junior-Senior High School gymnasium.
Abilene, coming off consecutive losses, scored the first six points of the game and would never trail.
Concordia, which picked up its first win of the season by knocking off previously unbeaten Marysville on Tuesday night, fell behind the Cowboys by double figures in the first quarter and could never catch up.
“We came in knowing they were a very good ball club. They are athletic, they are quick, they are fast. They share the ball well. They really have no weak parts of their game,” Concordia coach Michael Roe said of the Cowboys, “We came in wanting to deny what they wanted to do right away. You saw us in the first quarter get a couple of steals, but they beat us back and we didn’t rebound the ball. Which was kind of the story for the night. We couldn’t get back fast enough.”
Abilene tossed in six points in the first 1:01 of the game.
Concordia, now 1-4 overall and 1-1 in league play, would get within two points, 8-6, when Cav Carlgren completed a three-point play.
A three-point basket by Kaleb Becker and bucket by Avery Bryson put Abilene up 13-6.
Carlgren hit a jumper to make it a 13-8 game with 2:49 to play in the first quarter.
Abilene, getting a pair of three-point baskets by Blaise McVan, scored 12 points in 2:34 to open up a 25-8 advantage.
The Cowboys connected on four of five three-point attempts in the first quarter.
“They are just a very good ball club for that reason. They have shooters and they have guys inside who can score. They cut hard to the basket. They can finish up at the rim. It puts a lot of pressure on your defense,” Roe said.
A three-pointer by Chas Calgren with time running out in the period left Concordia trailing 25-11.
Abilene pushed the lead to 31-13 in the first two minutes of the second period.
Nick Vignery made a three and Jacob Rosenbaum completed a four-point play to get Concordia within 12 points, 31-19.
Rosenbaum led Concordia with 11 points.
Consecutive buckets gave Abilene a 35-19 cushion.
Rosenbaum scored inside to make it 35-21 with 3:49 remaining in the first half.
The Panthers would not score again in the period.
Abilene, with McVan and Bryson knocking down consecutive threes, went on a 10-0 spurt to push the lead to 45-21 at halftime.
The Cowboys opened the second half with a 12-5 run, and led 57-26.
Abilene led by as many as 33 points, 63-30, in the third quarter.
Concordia scored the final three points, and trailed 63-33.
With a running clock in the fourth quarter, and both team emptying their benches, Abilene tacked on 11 points to four for the Panthers.
“A lot of good things happened in that game,” Roe said, “Ya it is a bad loss, but there were some small bright spots that we are going to have to take away from that and hopefully build on.”
Rosenbaum was the only Concordia player to score more than five points.
The Panthers finished 13 of 36 from the field for 28 percent and 6 of 13 from the free throw line for 46 percent. They committed 19 turnovers.
Bryson led Abilene with 17 points. Becker added 12 points.
The Cowboys shot 57 percent (28 of 49) from the floor. They made 7 of 14 three-point attempts and 11 of 18 free throws for 61 percent.
Concordia will return to action on January 7 when it hosts Wamego in a league game.

ABILENE (74)
Jones 1-0-1 2, Stuber 4-0-1 8, McVan 3-0-1 9, Bryson 7-2-3 14, Beetch 3-3-1 9, Wildey 1-0-0 3, Becker 4-2-2 12, Davis 2-2-0 6, Heintz 2-2-0 6, Anderson 1-0-2 2. Totals: 28-11-11 74.
CONCORDIA (37)
Vignery 1-2-0 5, Trost 1-0-2 4, Cav Carlgren 2-2-1 6, Williams 1-0-1 3, Owen 0-0-3 0, Rosenbaum 4-1-3 11, Hobrock 1-1-1 3, Chas Carlgren 2-0-3 5, Parker 0-0-2 0. Total: 13-6-15 37.