Comets light up scoreboard in regular season finale

Press Staff Report

The century mark wasn’t reached, but it was an overall impressive victory nonetheless for the Charles City Comet boys basketball squad on Thursday night.

The Comet offense was in high gear in their final regular season tuneup game before substate play begins Monday.

Charles City (11-10) scorched the nets in a 93-87 victory over Iowa Falls-Alden (12-9). The Comets were red hot from the charity stripe and made 23 out of 27.

“Every game takes its own course and this one was no exception. Our kids stuck to the game plan and made enough plays down the stretch. We’ve been putting an emphasis on free throws this week at practice and I’m proud of our kids for knocking them down during crucial times of the game,” said Comet head coach Ben Klapperich.

The Comets also overcame the monster performance from Iowa Falls-Alden’s Karson Sharar. Sharar netted 45 points and drained six 3-pointers. He came into the contest averaging over 23 points a game.

“Karson Sharrar is one of the best that we’ve played against all year. He has a couple D1 offers and numerous other D2s that are after him. We had some defensive lapses that gave him some clean looks in the first half but he had to work harder for his shot in the second half,” said Klapperich.

Charles City would not be outdone by that stunning individual performance on this night. The Comets’ offense exploded with a season-high point total and had five players in double-figures.

J.J. Ritter pumped in 23 points, Chase Low had a fine game with 16 points and Bradley Andrews added 15 points. The double-digit scoring didn’t stop there as Ian Collins broke down the Cadets defense for 14 points and Mario Hoefer pitched in with 12 points.

The Comets scoring was aided by Kaden Barry’s seven points and Tait Arndt’s six points.

The Cadets led at the break, 42-39, and the game was tied at 73-73 at the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Iowa Falls-Alden would take a 75-73 lead a minute later, but a 6-0 run pushed Charles City’s lead back up to four at 79-75. Iowa Falls-Alden tied it again at 79-79 before Charles City took back the lead for good, up 85-79 down the stretch.

This big win should give the Comets plenty of momentum when they make the long trek south to take on Waverly-Shell Rock at Marion on Monday in postseason play. The Class 3A, Substate 3 quarterfinal contest takes place at 6:30 p.m.