Independence boys struggle defensively in three losses

The Independence boys basketball team had a tough time getting stops in three losses last week.

They gave up 51 points in the first half of an 84-43 loss to Neillsville on the road last week Monday. They returned home on Thursday, but fell to Whitehall, 87-45, (see more elsewhere in Sports) and then lost to Glenwood City, 70-46 on Saturday. No further information from the Glenwood City game was reported to the Times.

Independence (4-9, 1-3) played at Cochrane-Fountain City on Tuesday and will play at Melrose-Mindoro on Frida. They return home to face Augusta this coming Monday. 

Neillsville 84 IHS 43

The Indees had no answer after the Warriors put up 51 points in the first half.

Neillsville was clicking in every aspect as they forced 31 Independence turnovers in the game and took a 51-25 lead into halftime.

The Warriors slowed down offensively in the second half, but the Indees still weren’t able to get back in the game.

The Indees shot 41 percent from the field, but they couldn’t overcome the turnovers. Tyler Kingsbury led the team with 16 points while Xavier Santillan added 10.

Independence (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-points) — Rajkowski 1/3-0/0-0-2 Kingsbury 4/12-6/8-4-16 B. Pyka 3/5-1/6-5-7 Sylla 2/6-0/0-2-5 Santillan 4/6-0/0-3-10 Mendoza Reyes 0/1-1/2-1-1 Pfaff 0/0-0/0-1-0 N. Pyka 0/0-0/0-2-0 Olson 0/1-0/0-0-0 Flores 0/0-2/2-4-2