Comets sail past Vikings, 75-71, for 5th straight win

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Maybe it was the way the Charles City Comets boys basketball team comported itself while riding on a winning-streak wave and having gotten into the habit of finishing games strong that made it seem like they were in no danger whatsoever while hosting Decorah on Friday.

Sure, the Vikings for the most part stayed within 10 points of the Comets, and even got within 4 midway through the third quarter before hitting some late 3-pointers to make it a one-possession game with less than a minute remaining in regulation.

But really, the Comets controlled the game from start to finish on way to winning 75-71 to extend their winning streak to five while improving to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the Northeast Iowa Conference, sharing the top spot with Waverly-Shell Rock, a team the Comets soundly defeated back in December.

Perhaps the biggest drama of the night at Comet Gym was the update announcements of the Charles City at Decorah girls varsity game with both teams vying for their first victory of the season.

The Comets got a game-high 29 points from their resident all-state senior guard Jack Molstead. Though you can always count on Molstead to put the ball through the hoop a variety of ways from a variety of distances, perhaps his most underrated value to the team is his elusive ball-handling capabilities whenever trailing teams are desperate for steals and turnovers and are leery of putting a shooter on the foul line.

In the end it was Marcus Cranshaw’s converted foul shot with 2.9 seconds remaining that sealed the deal while capping the score.

Cranshaw scored 17 points, and Colton Slinger added 10 for the Comets, who also got 8 points off the bench from 6-foot-7 junior Bradley Andrews, who returned to the lineup after missing several games.

Molstead’s driving 3-point play helped give the Comets their first double-digit lead (35-25) with just under a minute remaining in the first half. Later, Molstead assisted Cranshaw in the open court to put Charles City up 60-44 — its biggest lead — with 5:45 left in regulation.

Matthew Franzen had 16 points to lead the Vikings (4-6, 3-3).

As for the aforementioned girls game … the Comets took a 18-17 halftime lead and extended their advantage to 4 points late in the third quarter. But the Vikings eventually prevailed, 41-35.

Decorah improved to 1-13 and 1-6, while Charles City fell to 0-12 and 0-7.

Boys Varsity

CHARLES CITY 75, DECORAH 71

Scoring By Quarters

DECORAH 9 19 15 28 — 71

CHARLES CITY 14 25 13 23 — 75

DECORAH — Keaton Solberg 5, Samuel Robinson 10, Matthew Franzen 16, Charles Robinson 15, Patrick Bockman 11, Tynan Nelson 8, Logan Halverson 6, Andrew Magner 2.

CHARLES CITY — Jack Molstead 29, JJ Ritter 5, Marcus Cranshaw 17, Colton Slinger 10, Bradley Andrews 8, Tait Arndt 6.