Round three of boys basketball action between the Algona Bulldogs and Humboldt Wildcats went to Algona on Monday night, as the Bulldogs went to Humboldt and picked up a 61-54 win in the class 3A – substate 8 first round.
It was the third meeting in 13 days between these two teams, as Humboldt had defeated Algona 66-54 on February 10th, while Algona downed Humboldt 66-56 on February 16th. The game also marked the fourth time in the past six years these two schools had matched up in the postseason.
The Wildcats started off well in the opening quarter, taking a 12-6 lead over Algona and leading 18-15 after one. Humboldt got the lead up to 21-15, before an 11-0 scoring run by Algona put the Bulldogs ahead 26-21. Algona would never trail again, leading by 5 at halftime, 33-28.
Humboldt stuck around, but never got closer than two in the second half. A drive to the bucket by Evan Allie with under three minutes left put Algona up 55-47, their largest lead of the game.
Nathan Manske paced Algona with 25 points, Jacob Burns knocked down four three pointers and tallied 16 points, while Landon Campe tacked on 10.
Valley Davis led Humboldt with 16 points, while Cade Birdsell scored 12. The Bulldogs limited the Wildcats to just four three pointers in the win.
Humboldt ends their season at 13-10, while Algona improves to 16-7, with their 13th win in the past 17 games. Algona will face class 3A #3 ranked Storm Lake in the substate second round, as Storm Lake enters at 21-2 after defeating Denison-Schleswig 73-30 in the opening round. It’ll be the first meeting between Algona and Storm Lake since 2012, as live coverage will begin at 6:40 on KLGA 92.7 FM and the Algona Radio YouTube stream.
