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Dry spell costs Central DeWitt

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By Brian Heinemann | Saturday, February 2, 2008 12:46 AM CST | () comments

DEWITT, Iowa — A second-quarter dry spell on offense cost Central DeWitt against conference rival Marion, dropping it too far back to make up ground in a 64-47 home loss Friday.

After trailing 19-15 after the first quarter the Sabers offense disappeared in the second, not putting up a point until over five minutes elapsed in the quarter.

That put the team down 13 at the half against the Indians (14-2, 12-0 WaMaC), who coasted the rest of the way in keeping their perfect conference record intact.

“We just got out of sync,” Central coach George Pickup said of the second quarter. “I think we got tired from chasing them around.”

Marion’s Amry Shelby, a

5-foot-10 junior kept pace on the scoreboard with Central’s entire output for a majority of the first three quarters. He finished with 29 points on 12 of 15 shooting.

“He’s averaging about 20 points per game,” Pickup said of Shelby. “We came in looking to hold him, but we didn’t limit his penetration.”

That inability allowed Shelby to get to the bucket repeatedly, helping the junior achieve his best scoring output of the season to this point.

“I wasn’t trying to score that much,” Shelby said. “As a team, we just try to get the ball to the guy who’s hot.”

His hot hand helped the Indians extend their lead to 23 points in the fourth. He was helped by 6-foot-2 junior Levi Leynott, who led all rebounders with eight.

“This is a game we’ve been looking forward to all season,” Shelby said. “We really wanted a win. This is a big confidence builder to come in here and win big.”

Central (12-3, 9-3) was led by Weston Ketelsen’s 12 points. Kramer Steffens and Michael Burke each had 10, but none could put in a bucket in that crucial span in the second.

“The effort was there,” Pickup said. “We missed eight or nine two-inch shots. If we make some of them, it’s a lot closer.”