Lions off and running

The Clear Lake boys are off and running in the 2017-18 season.  The Lions earned victories in their opening games against West Fork, Hampton-Dumont and dropped a hard-fought contest with Charles City in the past week.

CL 86, West Fork 82

A 20-4 run propelled the Lions to an 86-82 win in their season-opener on the road against perennial Class 1A power West Fork.

“It was a great start to the season with a road win against a tough opponent in a tough environment,” said Clear Lake Head Coach Jeremey Ainley.  “We battled throughout the game and struggled to guard for most of the game, but were able to string together some stops in the fourth quarter and go on a run to take a lead.”

The two teams played nearly even ball in the first half, with the Warhawks taking a 40-38 lead to the locker room at halftime.

The home team padded the lead a bit in the third, outscoring the Lions 25-20, and built the lead to 10 in the fourth quarter.  But that’s when the Lions began to find their groove— namely Zach Lester, for a come-from-behind win.

Lester scored 29 second half points and finished with a total of 40 in the game.  He sunk nine of 12 free throw attempts and was 3/8 from behind the three-point line.  The senior was also the team leader in rebounds with six.

Drew Enke and Sean Wendel were also in double figures for the Lions.  Enke put in 21 points and had five rebounds, while Wendel scored 12 and had five boards.  Four of Wendel’s points were free throws in the closing minutes of the game.

Jared Penning scored six points for the Lions.  Nick Danielson and Tate Storbeck had three apiece.  Alex Snelling added one.

“We were able to make our free throws down the stretch and earn a tough fought victory.  I was extremely proud of our resiliency after being down by as many as 11 late in the third quarter,” said Coach Ainley.

CL 67, H-D 35

Zach Lester again led the way as Clear Lake opened the North Central Conference season with a 67-35 win over Hampton-Dumont Friday night, Dec. 1.

Lester scored 24 points on 56 percent shooting against the Bulldogs.  He also dished out six assists and had six steals in the game.  Drew Enke was also strong on offense with 13 points and three assists.  He led the team in steals with three.

The Lions opened the game with a 14-10 first quarter lead and played good defense throughout.  They held the Bulldogs to just seven points in the second quarter and nine in each second half period.

“We started out a little slow, but ramped up the intensity on defense and were able to jump out to a big halftime lead,” said Coach Ainley.  “In the third quarter we were able to extend the lead and cruise to a nice victory.”

Senior Sam Pedelty came off the bench to contribute nine points on a trio of three-pointers.

Alex Snelling put in seven points.  Tate Storbeck and Jared Penning each had four points and Nick Danielson, Sean Wendel and Ryan Thomas had two points apiece.

Wendel had a team-high five rebounds.  Enke, Storbeck and Hunter Gerhardt crashed the boards for

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Charles City 75, CL 64

The Lions had an early test against one of North Iowa’s better teams Monday night, Dec. 4.  Despite an 11-point loss to Charles City, Coach Jeremey Ainley said he saw several reasons to be optimistic about the season.

“We knew this would be a good measuring stick of where we are at early in the season.  Charles City has some very good players that would give us some difficulty.  I thought we played a good game effort wise, just had too many mistakes and didn’t guard when we needed to,” said Ainley.

The Lions battled thoughout the first half and held a 17-14 lead after one quarter.  By halftime the Comets were in the lead, 36-33.

The Comets’ began to hit their offensive stride in the third quarter and built a 61-45 lead after three quarters of play.

“They were able to build a lead that was too big to come back from and it cost us,” said Ainley.

Zach Lester led the team in scoring with 30 points.  Drew Enke had 13.  Sean Wendel and Jared Penning provided some scoring in the post in the first half and finished with seven points apiece.

“We have the potential to be a very good team, these early games are just about finding what pieces fit where, but I am really optimistic about this team,” added the coach.

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