IAC BOYS BASKETBALL: CANDOR ROLLS IN HOME OPENER (16 PHOTOS) (2018-11-30)

Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR - It's amazing what a simple time out can do for a team. Battling a sluggish defensive start against Cincinnatus Friday evening, the Indians used one of theirs. It turned things around and the host cruised to a 63-17 non-league rout.

"We started out kind of slow in terms of our effort on defense," said Candor head coach Nate Thomas. "We called a timeout early in the first half and said let's work on playing our defense, work on the effort ... We came out the second half and it was spot on."

Candor would hold the Lions to single field goals in each of the final three periods - they had three in the first quarter. The Indians' success could be attributed to 17 steals, 19 defensive rebounds and three blocked shot.
 
Nick Thomas accounted for five steals while Daniel Thomas, Kevin Cotton, Caleb Vaow, Alex Doucett and Lance Jensen contributed two thefts apiece. Kolden Foster and Brandon Hoyt had five defensive boards each, and Foster, Cotton and Hoyt rejected one shot apiece.

Offensively, Candor worked a 15-8 first-quarter lead, then pushed its advantage to 26-12 at halftime behind six first-quarter points from Brayden Krebs and another eight from Daniel Thomas, which included a 3-pointer in each period.

The Indians cranked up the scoring machine in the third, outscoring the young Lions (one upperclassmen suited up), 22-2. Marcus Rypkema pumped out 10 points, Krebs added six more and Doucett drained a pair of threes.

Apparently, Doucett found his range, because he knocked downtown two more treys in the final period. He would finish with a game-high 15 points.

Candor's style of offense was't always pretty, but it worked.

"We like to play ugly. It's OK," the coach said. "The uglier the game is the better off we're going to be, so it may look ugly to some other people, but that's the kind of game we're OK with."

Krebs chalked up a dozen points to go with five boards and Rypkema ended the evening with 10 points. Daniel Thomas added eight points. Nick Thomas, Cotton and Hoyt chipped in four points each. Hoyt had six rebounds, as did Foster, while Nick Thomas contributed five steals and four assists.

The Indians clearly had Cincy out-hustled, showing signs of a running offense at times.

"If we can get up and down the court, that's what we're looking to do," coach Thomas said.

The outcome also gave the the Candor reserves plenty of court time.

"We have 12 guys that can play, we're going to try and play them."

Candor (2-1) visits Tioga (1-0) Tuesday.

------

IN PHOTO 1: Candor's Brayden Krebs (right). ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.