Four Lions earn All-North Central Conference honors

Clear Lake junior Thomas Storbeck was named to the First Team All-North Central Conference and three other Lions were honored by conference coaches.  Senior Zach Tatum was a Second Team All-NCC choice, while senior Parker Truesdell and sophomore Zach Lester were Third Team selections.

Coach Jeremy Ainley noted Storbeck missed being a unanimous First Team choice by one.  “He really turned it on this year as a leader and became a great basketball player for us,” said Ainley.  “He went from a spot up shooter last year as a sophomore to a complete scorer this year.  Thomas had a remarkable year and we look forward to building on it for next year.”

Storbeck averaged 19.6 points per game and scored a total of 451 points, which is sixth all-time in CLHS history in a season.  His 157 field goals ranked him eighth all time for a season.  He made 55 three-pointers, which rank as fifth most all time in a season.  He currently has 76 career three-pointers, which rank him at seventh all time in school history.  His 82 free throws made were fifth most in a season and he shot 84 percent, which was the highest in the conference this year with anybody over 20 attempts.  “We look forward to a bright future,” added Ainley.

Zach Tatum  was the Lions’ second leading scorer with more than 12 points per game; he was the team’s leading rebounder.

“A truly great story for a senior—  doesn’t play his junior year and has to learn basically from scratch what we are trying to do,” said Coach Ainley.  “He is all of 6’1” and played three to four positions for us and shot over 50 percent on the year.  He got to the line 124 times this year, which led the team and scored a lot of points being an undersized post player.  He had a great attitude and work ethic and is a great competitor.”

According to Ainley, Parker Truesdell will go down as one of the best pure shooters to ever graduate from Clear Lake.  The senior averaged over 10 points per game and made 69  three-pointers this season, ranking second for most all time in a season to Mike Oimoen.  He had the second most in the conference this year, and was in the top 10 in Class 2A in three-pointers made in the season.  He made 99 for his career, which ranks fifth most in Clear Lake history.  “The impressive thing about his number of three’s made is that one— he did it at a great percentage (over 35 percent), but two— everybody knew that he could and would shoot it and he still had those kind of numbers.”

“For a sophomore starting varsity, Zach Lester had a great all around year,” said Coach Ainley. “He really turned it on and became a complete player.  He worked very hard on his game and will continue to improve.”

Lester averaged 10 points per game this season.  His 85 free throws made this season were fourth most all-time in school history in a season.  His 138 assists were fourth most all-time in a single season; he led the NCC in assists for the season.  His 66 steals in a season is fourth all-time in a single season and he currently ranks ninth all-time in career steals in CLHS history.

Other honors included  Zach Tatum and Justin Sholly awarded Academic All State.

“Overall as a team we broke the single season record with 458 three-pointers attempted and shot them overall at 32 percent, which is not bad for a team shooting percentage from three-point range.  We also broke the season record for rebounds in a season with 720 rebounds overall,” added Ainley.

The Clear Lake boys finished with a record of 11-12.