ZALMA -- Larry Nussbaum looked like an all-star on a video game, one who doesn't miss no matter how many times he shoots.

Nussbaum missed his first shot in the first minute of the first quarter Tuesday.

The Leopold senior didn't miss again all night.

Nussbaum dominated in the paint and led his Wildcats boys basketball team to a 71-63 win over Zalma.

"I'm a big believer that games are won in the paint," Leopold coach Shawn Kinder said. "When you've got a dominant post player like that, it's good to feed off him. When the defense collapsed, the kids need to realize that opened up the outside as well. As long as he's dominant in the post, we need to keep getting the ball to him."

Nussbaum made his last 14 shots in the game to finish with a game-high 31 points.

"We just set a lot of screens and I found the gaps and they left the back door open every time," he said. "They just passed me the ball."

When Zalma tried to stop Nussbaum, he dished off to a teammate for an easy layin. David Fluchel was the beneficiary of a few of those dishes, as he scored eight points in the first half.

"Larry's a good player," Kinder said. "He sees the floor well. He understands his role. The kids feed off him a lot, especially when he catches in the post and the defense reacts. The kids anticipate well, they read the defense and they make cuts. It lights their eyes up. It gives them scoring opportunities."

Nussbaum scored 18 points in the first half, but the Bulldogs (9-12) did a better job of limiting his touches in the second half. Zalma coach Steve Wells credited senior Kevin Walker for helping to slow down Nussbaum.

"We were really matching well on him, and I think Kevin played him a lot better in the second half than he did the first half," Wells said. "We switched up on him, too."

The defense was better, but Nussbaum still found his points. He went 5 of 5 from the field and scored 13 points after the intermission.

"They'd always have a guy on me," Nussbaum said of the second half. "Every time I'd get the ball, they'd collapse on me. It gets pretty frustrating sometimes.

"You've got to play harder, play through it. You're going to get fouled. You've just got to keep going up."

Leopold, ranked No. 7 in the latest Class 1 state poll, opened a 13-point lead at halftime, but the Bulldogs (9-12) refused to go away. The Bulldogs went on a 15-4 run and had a couple of chances to get closer as they used seven fourth-quarter turnovers by Leopold to cut the deficit to five points with 1 minute, 28 seconds left.

"We played well defensively," Wells said. "We made some key stops and got down the floor. When you play well on the defensive end of the floor, it gives you a lot more energy in the half court. We also spread the floor better. We passed the ball well. We had better ball movement and better player movement."

Stephen Simmers and Justin Stotts sparked the Bulldogs' rally, scoring 11 of the 15 points during the run. Simmers finished with 26 points and Stotts added 20.

"The Stotts kid and Simmers kid are great players," Kinder said. "That's a great sophomore combo. It will be a great future for these guys at Zalma. I don't think we did as good a job as the first two times we played them, getting off and giving help."

But not surprisingly, it was Nussbaum who squashed the rally. After Leopold worked the ball around the perimeter, the Wildcats found Nussbaum open in the paint. He converted the layin and got fouled, pushing the lead back to eight points with 56.8 seconds left.

"I was getting nervous," Nussbaum said. "We had a 13-point lead going into halftime and they got it down to five. We're all sick and we're all tired. I didn't want to lose it."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Leopold20241215--71

Zalma18151319--63

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:LEOPOLD (71) -- Larry Nussbaum 31, Darren VanGennip 14, Dustin Thiele 6, Wade Wiseman 2, Anthony Seabaugh 6, David Fluchel 10, Clayton Stoverink 2. FG 31. FT 9-10, F 9. (3-pointers: None. Fouled out: None)

ZALMA (63) -- Kevin Walker 6, John Lebcowitz 5, Justin Stotts 20, Nick Smith 6, Stephen Simmers 26. FG 25, FT 5-14, F 11. (3-pointers: Simmers 5, Stotts 2. Fouled out: None)