Surprising good early start for Lone Tree

LONE TREE - There's been nothing lone so far about this tree.

In fact, there's no one in Class 1A that has more wins than the Lone Tree Lions thus far. They take a 4-0 mark into their home game tonight against Mediapolis (3-0).

“Last year, our JV kids were 17-4,” said Lone Tree Coach Tom Squiers, in his 20th season at the school. “They were a real good group of sophomores and freshmen, and that group has really bought into our system. The biggest difference is we're playing some outstanding defense. These kids work very hard at it. Right now, our defense is way ahead of our offense, which is, I guess, the way it's supposed to be.”

Lone Tree struggled to subdue Olin in its opener, 58-47, but it's been nothing but wins by 20 points or more since. That includes a 75-44 blowout Tuesday night of Columbus Junction.

The amazing thing about these Lions is they were just 12-10 last season and graduated their second through sixth-leading scorers. As Squiers said, there is some talent in the lower grades.

That includes sophomore guard Bryan Forbes, who is averaging a team-leading 17.5 points. That includes 10-of-20 shooting from 3-point land. Forbes led Lone Tree in scoring last season as a freshman (14.6 points per game).

“In our game against Wapello last week, he only had eight points, but he had 10 assists. That shows you he also passes the ball very well,” Squiers said. “He's just a smart basketball player. His two older brothers played for me, so he has grown up around the game.”

Nathan Volk comes in next in scoring at 9.0 points a game, then Max Larew at 7.0. But this team's success has been more about defense than offense.

Just check out that 41.6 defensive average.

“We had a lot of unknowns coming into this season,” Squiers said. He's getting a lot of good answers to his questions.

In the lane

 - No one can accuse Jordan Hay of being inconsistent. The North Cedar senior scored 34 points in his team's first game against Northeast Goose Lake and followed with 33 points in Game 2 against Mount Vernon. The 6-foot-6 junior guard's scoring average leads the state in the very early going.

 - Clear Creek-Amana's Nile Eckerman leads the state with 20 made 3-pointers in his first four games. He's attempted 43, 17 fewer than state leader Zac Taeger of West Burlington.

 - Eye-opening early games include a pair of nice wins by Cascade (51-39 over Maquoketa Valley and 46-41 in overtime over Western Dubuque). West Branch also had an impressive 68-48 Cedar Valley Conference win Tuesday night over Mid-Prairie.