Sterling struggles against No. 5 Moline's size in road loss

MOLINE — It felt fortunate for Sterling that the Golden Warriors were only down 12 at halftime against Class 4A No. 5 Associated Press ranked Moline at Wharton Field House on Friday night.

Then, the third quarter happened.

Moline hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the third quarter, going on to score 37 points in the frame as Sterling fell 77-45 to open Western Big 6 Conference play.

The Maroons (5-0, 1-0 Big 6) doubled their scoring in that quarter alone after leading 31-19 at halftime.

Sterling (3-2, 0-1) struggled to contend against the size and depth of Moline, led by Trey Taylor’s 23 points and Braden Freeman’s 22 and 12 rebounds.

Freeman is a 6-foot-6 Cal Poly recruit and the younger brother of Iowa’s Owen Freeman. Taylor is 6-5. Both players showed they can do some of everything and had the crowd going with a pair of impressive dunks.

For Sterling, Kaedon Phillips scored eight of his team-high 14 points in the third quarter, but the deficit had already snowballed as each team’s starters were pulled in the fourth quarter.

Sterling’s Maddux Osborn, the team’s starting post and one of its only sources of size, dealt with foul trouble to add to the challenge.

“We knew coming in this game was going to be rough,” Osborn said. “We could have thrown a better punch at them, but I think we will get it back when we play Rocky and Quincy.”

Sterling hits the road to Rock Island on Tuesday before hosting Quincy on Friday night in a challenging open to Big 6 play.

Once Moline’s Brady Welch and Zach Hendrikx hit consecutive triples, the Maroons regained the momentum and rarely missed a scoring opportunity in the third quarter run.

“When they came out with those two threes right away, coach called a timeout, no one had the energy,” Osborn said. “They just kept scoring and we never threw a punch back.”

Sterling is a smaller team both physically and a class lower than Moline.

“They were getting a lot of rebounds and forcing a lot of turnovers,” Phillips said. “That really messed us up.”

Nico Battaglia’s six points were second best on the Warriors and Osborn had five points.

Sterling coach Ryan Vasquez said Moline’s experience stood out.

“To beat a team like Moline, you’ve got to be sharp at all levels and take care of the basketball,” he said. “They sped us up and they took charge of that.

“At the end of the day, it’s a team effort and we didn’t have it tonight.”

The live ball turnovers added to the deficit for Sterling as it struggled to defend the rim inside.

“They’re ranked in 4A for a reason,” Vasquez said. “We wanted to play better and we know we could have played better, but at the end of the day, they were the better team.

“I’m proud of my guys, I feel like they didn’t give up tonight. I thought they battled. It just wasn’t our night.”

Osborn said taking care of the ball better and rebounding need to improve to compete with teams like Moline.

“We didn’t come to our full ability tonight,” Osborn said, “and that’s what killed us.”