Behind 24 points and 12 rebounds from Cody Rush, the Lansing boys’ basketball team cruised to a 62-47 Kaw Valley League win over Santa Fe Trail on Friday night.
The Lions improved to 5-1 with the win and 3-0 in KVL play.
“It was a kind of a business approach to it; we didn’t play really well, but we didn’t play really bad...” Lansing head coach Rod Briggs said. “We just kind of kept the lead. The game was never really in doubt, but we never really a put them away.”
The Chargers did stay somewhat close for much of the first quarter. Lansing started to pull away and had a 17-10 advantage after eight minutes of play, though, helped by making all six of their free throw attempts.
“We had a little run at the end of the first quarter, and that kind of got us a little distance,” Briggs said.
The Lions extended the lead to 12 by halftime at 31-19, and Briggs said the margin stayed at 12-15 points for most of the second half as well. Lansing led 46-31 at the end of the third quarter, and they continued to shoot well from the free throw line. They finished the game 14-for-19 (74 percent) from the stripe, with Brian Beall going 8-for-8.
“That was huge for us,” Briggs said of Beall’s performance at the line.
Santa Fe Trail outshot Lansing from beyond the arc, making four three-pointers to Lansing’s two, but the Chargers shot only 7-for-12 (58 percent) from the charity stripe.
Rush went 12-for-25 from the field on the night and made exactly three two-point field goals in each quarter. Despite taking so many shots, Rush was not credited with drawing a single shooting foul the entire game and attempted no free throws.
“The officials didn’t really help him much...” Briggs said. “I was proud of him. He kept his composure and kept playing.”
Clayton Hall made both of Lansing’s three-pointers and finished with 12 points. Brian Beall had 10 points, and his brother Curtis Beall had five points and five assists. Ryan Delich also scored five points in his third game back from injury. Briggs said Delich is continuing to help the team get better and had his best practice of the year on Monday.
“He’s going to give us a good lift the rest of the year,” Briggs said.
Also scoring for Lansing on Friday were Calvin Schneider with four points and Sloan Blain with two.
The Lions return to the hardwood tonight, when they travel to Gardner-Edgerton for a non-league game.
