Vaden’s 28 points lead Webb City to lopsided win over Crane

WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Webb City boys basketball team dominated Crane 81-55 in their last game before the break on Tuesday evening inside the Cardinal Dome.
The Cardinals got off to a quick start thanks to a couple of field goals from senior Luke Brumit, who scored six points in the first quarter.
Seniors Nickhai Howard and Trenton Hayes also made baskets to get six points and four points, respectively, in the quarter and contributed to a 7-2 run as the Cardinals took a 24-11 lead.
In the second quarter, junior Cohl Vaden rattled off three straight 3-pointers to keep the Cardinals on top. Vaden had a huge game with seven 3-pointers along with 5-of-6 free throws. Altogether, Vaden had 28 points on the night.
Crane tried to keep pace, pulling within five at one point, but Webb City went on another impressive 11-2 run to end the half and bring the score to 41-25.
“Vaden always has the green light,” Webb City coach Jason Horn said. “He puts a lot of time in our shooting program. They have to get a certain number of rounds to get the green light and he’s one of those guys that puts his time in and gets there. It paid off tonight.”
Vaden continued his hot streak by hitting three more 3-pointers in the third quarter and Brumit also made big plays, scoring seven points.
Crane’s Isaiah Smith went on his own run in the quarter, answering Vaden’s treys with two 3-pointers and a field goal of his own. Smith also scored his 1000th career point and led the Pirates (5-2) with 20 points overall.
Despite the strong effort, the Cardinals held a 66-40 lead heading into the final period.
The Cardinals didn’t see much action from the free throw line, but when they did, they made it count. Collectively, they went 10-for-16, including 5-of-7 in the fourth quarter. Vaden went 3-of-4 in the fourth.
Several Cardinals contributed to the win. In addition to Vaden’s 28 points, Brumit had 17, Howard scored 13, while Mekhi Garrard finished with seven and Hayes scored six.
Webb City is now 5-1.
“I’m going to tell the boys that we’ve got to build on this win,” Horn said. “This is the best start to the season we have had since I got here five years ago. We want to capitalize on this start going into the break. We don’t want it to be the highlight. We want to get better, and it isn’t going to get easier after the break because the Kaminsky Classic is always tough.”