Published: January 12, 2009 08:54 am      

Irish boys beat Camanche

CAMANCHE — The Prince of Peace boys basketball team took a 58-39 decision over the Camanche Indians in non-conference action Saturday.

The Irish jumped out to an early lead after the first five minutes as Andy Schnier and Drew Sikkema (nine points) both hit a bucket and John Nelson (11 points) hit his first of two 3-pointers along with a 3-point play for a 10-0 lead. The Prince of Peace defense held the Indians to just four field goals in the opening quarter.

The Indians got on the board with 3:30 on the clock when Brady Grell and Codie Adams both hit field goals. Taylor Roth (game-high 17 points) hit a couple of baskets late in the period.

The Irish came up with a 13-4 run to give them a 15 point lead 23-8 at the end of the first quarter. Scoring during this drive was Sean Mulholland (game high 17 points) with a couple of baskets and two free throws, a trey from John Nelson and a basket each from James Nelson (seven points) and Eric Sikkema.

The teams exchanged baskets in the second quarter with the Irish coming up with 12 points while the Indians had 11 to put the Irish on top at halftime by 16 points at 35-19.

Both teams had 13 points in the third quarter as the Irish maintained the lead heading into the final frame.

Once again the Irish was able to get all of his players into the game for some valuable playing time as they held on for the win.

The Indians (1-8 overall, 1-3 conference) will return to Big East Conference action Tuesday when they host Midland in a girl/boy doubleheader with the girls game starting at 6:15 p.m. followed by the boys.

“The Irish are a solid team and this was the second time we played them in ten days. We made progress last night against Andrew as our kids have been working hard in practice every day and we got our first win and were going to get more coming up and overall I am happy with the kids effort,” said Camanche coach Scott Harksen.

Prince of Peace (8-1 overall, 3-0 conference) will return to Big East Conference action Tuesday when they host Bellevue in a girl/boy doubleheader with the girls game starting at 6:15 p.m. followed by the boys.

“Our guys are coming around and playing much better defense. We came out early and tried to wear them down. Camanche is a good team and well coached, their kids never give up. We hit our shots, played good defense and stayed out of foul trouble, it was a good game for the Irish,” said Prince of Peace coach Gerry Murphy.

Score by Quarters

Prince of Peace 23 12 13 10 — 58

Camanche 8 11 13 7 — 39

Scoring

PRINCE OF PEACE (58)

Eric Sikkema 1 0-0 2, Joe Vens 0 0-0 0, John Nelson 4 1-1 11, Drew Sikkema 4 0-0 9, Andy Schnier 2 2-2 6, Jacob Crigger 1 0-0 2, James Nelson 3 1-2 7, Sean Mulholland6 4-6 17, Sean Williams 0 0-0 0, Derek Witt 2 0-0 4, Ian Flood 0 0-0 0, Seth Hinrichs 0 0-0 0, R. J. Howard 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 8-11 58.

CAMANCHE (39)

Brad Maxwell 2 0-0 4, Brett Johnson 1 0-0 2, Corie Adams 3 2-2 7, Taylor Roth 8 1-2 17, Austin Stahl 0 0-0 0, Corey Doyle 0 0-0 0, Tony Stoll 1 0-0 2, Brady Grell 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 4-7 39.

3-point goals—POP 4 (John Nelson 2, D. Sikkema, Mulholland); Camanche 1 (Adams). Total fouls—POP 12, Camanche 9, Fouled out—None.

Records—Prince of Peace 9-1, Camanche 1-8. Next games—Bellevue at Prince of Peace, 7:45 p.m. Tuesday; Midland at Camanche, 7:45 p.m. Tuesday.

JV game—Prince of Peace 58-Camanche 54.