Highland’s McFarland nets 29 to lead Huskies to victory

RIVERSIDE - Communication is a big part of succeeding in life. It is also important in sports. It is especially important in basketball.

The Highland High School boys' basketball team communicated well when its 6-foot-8 center, Zack Lasek, fouled out and Mason McFarland scored 29 points in a 69-57 Southeast Iowa Super Conference nondivisional home win over Danville Thursday.

The Huskies girls' team, however, allowed easy buckets in a 51-33 loss, despite 15 points from Abbie Stransky. Highland led 10-8 after one quarter, trailed 23-16 at the half and 35-26 after the third.

'We have to catch the ball and we have to play more solid on defense,” Highland girls head coach Jody Fink said. 'Those two things are killing us right now. We're not talking. We are not doing a good job of communicating. We're just throwing the ball but we're not looking where we are throwing it. Look at the out-of-bounds plays that Danville ran. They were lobs to their tall girl. Nobody wants to talk about defending her, nobody wants to step up and do anything. That is the frustrating thing that I am dealing with right now. We have to keep trying until we get over that.”

That tall girl, Drew Fox, scored 13 points and Bella Smith added 19 for Danville.

McFarland's communication with himself changed drastically early on in the game. He shot 0-for-10 from behind the 3-point line, but hit two in the first quarter and another one that was ruled a 2-pointer. He had 12 of Highland's points as it took a 21-16 lead by the end of the frame.

'I was thinking this was going to be a bad shooting night after pregame, but I started feeling it early from the 3-point line and I think it was because we were moving the ball really well,” said McFarland, who holds the school record of nine threes in a game. He finished with five treys Thursday. 'We were able to score off some drives and that got us some momentum going. I was definitely feeling it.”

With the score tied at 32 at halftime, Highland head coach Bill Zywiec communicated to his team to get the ball inside more to Lasek.

'Against (Danville's) 1-3-1 zone, our strength is going inside out,” Zywiec said. We needed to get Zack some touches.”

Lasek had four points during Highland's decisive 8-0 run to start the second half and the Huskies led 49-42 after the third quarter. Lasek had just six points at the half, but finished with 15 before fouling out with 3 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the game. He also had five blocks and five rebounds.

'Now we're in a little bit of a panic mode, but I feel that we handled it really well,” McFarland said.

After Danville made the free throws from the Lasek foul, it was a 59-52 game.

'We couldn't throw it inside anymore and had to move it a lot above he free-throw line,” McFarland said. 'It's nice when he's in there because all eyes go to him and he can throw it back out and then we take advantage of that opportunity.”

It also helps to have guards like McFarland and Cole Adamson. Adamson finished with 11 points going 5-of-7 on free throws, six assists, five rebounds and three times hustled back on defense to prevent an easy layup without fouling.

'We know we could play without him,” Zywiec said. 'We have a solid team. Derick (Sandburg) stepped up and had a huge game. He did some things that get overlooked in the stats. His defense was excellent. He had two blocks at crucial times.” He also had three assists and seven rebounds.

McFarland was 10-of-16 from the field, shooting better from deep. He was 5-of-9 on 2-pointers and 5-of-7 on 3-pointers. He was 4-of-6 on foul shots, grabbed five rebounds and swiped seven steals.

'We started to play the clock after Lasek was out, although we still wanted to be aggressive,” Zywiec said. 'It helps to have two quick guards running things up top for us.”

Highland's boys are 6-1, while the girls are 1-9. Both teams host North foe Columbus tonight.

More scores

Girls'

Wilton 36,

Columbus 22

Boys'

Wilton 67,

Columbus 56