Cold start leads to season-ending loss for Independence boys team

The Independence boys basketball team got off to a slow start and couldn’t recover in its, 63-47, regional loss to Loyal last week Tuesday.

The Panthers scored the first eight points in the game before Carlos Montalvo made a three pointer to put the Indees on the board. Loyal stayed in control, however, scoring 12 of the next 16 points to take a 20-7 lead. 

Independence trailed by 20 at halftime, but tried to shoot their way back in the game. Tyler Kingsbury made consecutive three pointers coming out of the half to cut the lead to 12 at 32-20. 

Again, Loyal responded, scoring the next nine points. Ben Pyka made a three pointer to end that stretch, but the Panthers remained in control.

Independence shot 34 percent in the game as they struggled inside, making just six-of-26 shots inside the three-point line — compared to 10-of-21 outside of the arc. Loyal, meanwhile, shot 43.5 percent from the field and 50 percent on two-point attempts. 

In his final game for Independence, Tyler Kingsbury led the Indees with 18 points while classmate Ben Pyka added 14. 

Independence ended its season with a record of 6-19 and they were the 11th seed in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association regional bracket. 

Independence (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) — Rajkowski 1/1-0/0-1-2-3 Kingsbury 6/17-2/3-2-5-18 B. Pyka 5/9-3/4-5-5-14 Sylla 2/8-0/0-0-3-5 Santillian 1/2-0/0-1-1-2 Montalvo 1/2-0/0-3-0-3 Mendoza 0/3-0/0-2-0-0 Pfaff 0/1-0/0-1-0-0 N. Pyka 1/3-0/0-2-2 Flores 0/1-0/0-0-1-0