Shooting just above 20 percent and getting out-rebounded by 27 is not a recipe to upset a ranked squad on the road.
There has been no sense of urgency for South Hardin in recent games. They come out sluggish and slow and find themselves in a big hole.
It didn't take long to complete Tuesday's non-conference quad in Cadet Gymnasium.
For a team that has been on a seven-game skid, just getting a win was priority number one.
A blistering shooting pace was more than enough to carry the Iowa Falls-Alden boys across the finish line in Fort Dodge.
An 8-0 run in the game's final minute was the difference as visiting Iowa Falls-Alden avoided an upset by a winless St. Edmond squad.
The gap between 10 and 18 can be bigger than just eight numbers. It certainly was Tuesday night in the Dittmer Gym on the Ellsworth Community College Campus in Iowa Falls as the 10th-ranked Iowa Central Tritons rolled the 18th-rated ECC Panthers 39-3.
What has happened all to often to them, the AGWSR Cougars (5-9) did to the Belmond-Klemme Broncos (0-15) in Ackley Monday night. The scored early and often and controlled the entirety of the game in a 48-30 non-conference win.
The AGWSR Cougar (8-7) and Belmond-Klemme Bronco (8-7) were about as even as two teams could be Monday night in Ackley. They entered with a one-game difference in records, then proceeded to play to two even halves.
Ellsworth Community College never found its footing in Boone.
When the two played earlier this season in Reinbeck, AGWSR lost to Gladbrook-reinbeck 62-41. This time, said Cougar head coach Ryley Schipper, the press and G-R’s shot making were just too much to stay close with.
The Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels (7-10, 4-2) were without a couple key players the first time the AGWSR Cougars (9-6, 4-2) played in Reinbeck, which the Cougars won 32-26. G-R had them back in the re-match, but fell even harder this time by a 34-25 count in Ackley.