Boys basketball: Balanced Blue Demons roll into postseason

Feb. 12—ELDON — The faces have changed. Some of the names may be different.

The tradition of winning basketball has remained a constant for the Albia Blue Demons under head coach Kevin Archer. That winning tradition has continued this season with a deep, balanced attack carrying Albia into postseason play.

All 14 players scored for Albia on Thursday in a 78-24 South Central Conference victory over Cardinal, officially clinching the seventh consecutive winning season for the Blue Demons. Just 24 hours later, Albia rallied from an early eight-point deficit pulling away in the second half to secure a 58-35 win over Southeast Warren in the penultimate home game for seniors Logan Reynolds, Connor Fisher and Connor Renaud.

"It's more satisfactory for me. It's not something we've talked about as a team," Archer said. "We've had a nice run of winning seasons. That means a lot to me. It means we're consistent and we're doing good things.

"We went from starting five seniors last year to starting five new guys this year. Conner and Luke (Wynn) are the only guys that saw significant minutes last year. To have that type of turnover and still come out with a winning record is really big."

Depth has been the key to success this year for the Blue Demons, something that was on display for the second time this season inside Cardinal's gymnasium. The Comets hosted Albia for the second time this after the originally scheduled trip to Albia was snowed out in January with the game ultimately rescheduled to Thursday, forcing the game to be moved to Wapello County with the Albia High School 'A' Gymnasium hosting a fifth-eighth grade choir concert.

"It's unfortunate for Albia because you always want to have a home-and-away," Cardinal head boys basketball coach Mike Strasko said. "They would always reciprocate and do the same for us. If that situation ever arises in the future, I'm more than comfortable going over to (Albia) twice.

"Hopefully, this is just one of those weird years with the weather and it all works out for everyone in the future."

For the second time this season, Gage Chance and Cael Schofield were at the head of Albia's balanced attack. The Blue Demon teammates each scored a game-high 15 points to lead Albia to an 88-31 win over the Comets back on Dec. 15.

In that win, 11 different Blue Demon players scored against Cardinal. Chance and Schofield combined for 25 points in Thursday's rematch as Albia once again spread the wealth, pulling away from the Comets as six different players scored during a 23-3 run in the second quarter lifting the Blue Demons to a 37-13 halftime lead.

"It's always good to come away with a win and our team loves to win," Schofield said. "We've got a group of guys that love to play together. We struggled early and didn't fall the game plan at the start, but we made it right as the game went along."

Chance finished with a team-high 13 points for Albia, matching Wynn and Ryan Little with six points apiece to lead the Blue Demons in the first half. Chance could have had the scoring lead going into halftime in spectacular fashion, but made up after missing a dunk in the final minute by collecting the offensive rebound and feeding Little for a score to end the final possession of the second quarter.

"I'm 0-2 on dunks this season," Chance joked. "I knew if missed the dunk, Archer was going to get mad at me, so I had to redeem it by going after the ball and getting the assist."

Schofield, Albia's leading scorer on the season averaging 12.4 points per game entering Thursday's contest, came alive in the third quarter to help the Blue Demons put the game completely out of reach. Schofield scored nine of his 12 points in the period, including a deep 3-pointer early in the second half as Albia put 23 points on the board for the second straight quarter opening a 70-22 lead.

"Everyone on this team comes together and plays as one. No one on this team is in it for themselves," Schofield said. "Archer always said it from the beginning of the season. We're just trying to get better and, whatever happens in the regular season happens, but when the postseason comes around we're going to be the team that's ready to make a run."

Albia wrapped up the regular season on Friday, overcoming a slow start to put away a 58-35 win over Southeast Warren. The Blue Demons outscored the Warhawks 17-5 in the second quarter, taking a 19-15 halftime lead after Southeast Warren built a 10-2 lead after eight minutes.

Albia (12-8, 8-6 SCC) opened the postseason at home on Monday against Centerville (10-10, 7-7 SCC) in a Class 2A, District 5 first-round contest. The teams split the regular-season series with Centerville countering a 60-53 loss at Albia on Dec. 12 with a 68-64 win at Lakeview Gymnasium on Jan. 19, a win that Centerville head coach Tyler Baze felt should have led to the Big Reds earning home court advantage over the Blue Demons when the two were paired together by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

"I don't understand that. We ended up with the better record and the better record in conference. If you look at all the ratings, everything favors us," Archer said. "I knew (Baze) was upset. I thought it might be a coin toss, but when you look at it closer, we should have the home-court advantage."

Schofield has also heard plenty about the potential hard feelings from the Big Reds heading into Monday's district opener.

"My mom actually works down there and is good friends with their head coach," Schofield said. "There's definitely been a lot of talk about how they should have had the better seed and shouldn't have even been in our district. If that's how they're talking, that just shows they're scared of us."

Cardinal (2-21, 1-13 SCC) opened 2A district play at Mid-Prairie. The winner heads to three-time reigning South Central Conference champion Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Thursday.

"I always tell this to our players. You never know when it's going to click," Strasko said. "We see it from kids in the classroom all the time. All this math gives them a lot of trouble or some other skill, then all of a sudden it clicks and they take this huge leap. There's no explanation for when it happens. If it happens on Monday and we play our best game of the year, that's the most important thing."

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.