01/22/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
ZEIGLER - For the third time this season, the Cobden Appleknockers will play for a tournament championship.

Coach Sweitzer and his team made sure of that spot in the finale by blistering South Egyptian Conference rival Dongola on Thursday night.

Cobden never trailed as the defensive effort forced the Demons into 21-turnovers and the offense took care of itself by as they canned 12 3-pointers in route to a 71-35 victory.

The Appleknockers will face Galatia on Friday night for the title as the games originally slated for Saturday and Friday were combined for an early beginning on Friday because of the upcoming severe weather.

“I thought defensively we did a good job containing Gaddis and Lieberman. Those are two guys who can score in bunches,” said Coach Sweitzer. “They tried a 'triangle and two' on us tonight and it gave us some fits early but when a team is going to do that to you, you have to make shots. We moved the ball really well tonight. Overall I thought we did a nice job when we turned them over during a stretch in the second quarter which got us the lead.”

While this part of January has proven to be colder than normal, Cobden was hot on Thursday night.

The Appleknockers put together a big second quarter scoring push that carried over to the second half as they improved their mark to 3-0 in Pool A and 17-5 overall.

Eight different players scored for the Appleknockers in the game, including senior guard Matthew Howell.

The 5-8 guard delivered five of the made 3-point shots and finished with a game-best 21-points.

Junior Kyler White scored 14 for Cobden and senior Kingston Kuhn added 10-points, matching his uniform number.

Dongola and head coach Russ Marsh suffered the loss, falling to 1-2 in Pool A and 12-10 overall on the season.

The Demons were paced by junior Caleb Gaddis with 15-points followed by junior Eyen Sheppard with nine, sophomore Isaiah Lieberman with seven and sophomore Ben Flores with four.

Dongola trailed by just two-points late in the opening quarter before the 3-pointer flood gates opened for Cobden.

Sheppard scored six of his points in the first quarter, including consecutive scores with the second one coming on a 3-pointer from the left wing off of an assist by Gaddis as Dongola trailed just 11-9.

But Howell delivered his first 3-pointer of the game before Gaddis closed the frame with a driving lay up as the Appleknockers led 14-11 at the first break.

Howell delivered another 3-pointer to open the second quarter and followed that up with an inside score.

The opening scoring streak by Howell started a 16-3 game changing run.

Senior guard Gabe Haynes scored five-points in the game with his first made shot also coming from long range as he banked home a 3-pointer to keep the scoring run alive.

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Senior Jansen Nance also got in on the points parade for Cobden and a transition score from Howell forced a Dongola timeout at 26-14 with 4:43 left in the half.

White closed the scoring spree with two additional baskets, the second one on a rebound of his own missed shot.

The half closed with both White (3-pointer) and Howell (fast break) scoring points before Lieberman converted on a drive for Dongola, who trailed 35-18 at halftime.

Howell surpassed the 1,000-point plateau earlier this week according to Coach Sweitzer.

“He (Howell) went over a thousand points two nights ago and he hit some shots for us tonight,” said Coach Sweitzer. “He's had a long career with us as he was our sixth man as a freshman and most of his points have been since his sophomore year.”

The Demons committed 13 of their turnovers in the first half and Cobden turned most of them into points.

“Our defensive intensity is number one on our board before each game and the offensive will take care of itself,” said Coach Sweitzer. “A lot of times it leads to offense for us and that's where we're at right now.”

Any real thoughts of a comeback by Dongola evaporated quickly in the third quarter.

The Appleknockers put together another run.

Senior James Eagle scored to start the blitz and Kuhn added an offensive rebound basket which was followed by an assist by Kuhn to Howell, who buried another 3-pointer, this time from the right corner as the Appleknockers led 42-20.

Kuhn added six more points on a couple of drives in the lane and two free throws as Cobden headed to the fourth quarter up 52-29.

The Appleknockers hit their first five field goal attempts in the final quarter, which sent the game into a mercy rule 30-point lead.

Senior Daniel Tomas scored on a baseline drive, Howell added two more 3-point bombs and Eagle also hit from long distance.

The Eagle trifecta triggered the continuous clock at 63-31 with 5:17 left.

Freshman Tristan Wilson added to the onslaught with a pair of late 3-pointers for Cobden as they moved into Friday night's title game.

“That's pretty cool,” said Coach Sweitzer about his team playing in its third title game this season.

The Appleknockers were much better at taking care of the basketball on Thursday night than Dongola.

Cobden committed just 10 turnovers, with four of them coming by the reserves in the last five minutes of the game.

Coach Sweitzer's club dropped ion 28-of-60 shots from the floor overall and 12-of-23 from beyond the 3-point line.

Dongola held a slight rebounding edge (25-22) but they failed in the rest of the categories to make any sort of offensive run.

The Demons finished 15-of-45 overall, 3-of-10 from long distance and the 21-turnovers led to too many other issues as the Demons will now face Joppa-Maple Grove Friday at 4 pm.

Guerra scored 26-points, hitting eight of the teams' 11 3-pointers and Owens added 20-points, mostly inside the arc as Elverado improved to 7-14 overall on the season and 2-1 in Pool A.

The Falcons will face Zeigler-Royalton in the third place game Friday night.

Junior Hayden Sims scored 12-points for Coach Aaron Wright's club.

Shawnee fell to 1-19 overall and 0-3 in Pool A.

Junior Kyler Jewell paced the Redskins with 19-points while freshman Jacob Pickel and sophomore Brody Maeser scored nine-points each in the loss.