Lions move to 8-1 with two more wins

(Above) Carson Toebe was the leading scorer for the Lions when they defeated Webster City, 64-40.  Toebe scored 16 points.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

The Lions improved their record to 8-1 with victories over a pair of rivals last week.  On Friday, Clear Lake hosted Webster City, from the North Central Conference.  Saturday, they stepped out of the league to match up against Forest City.

CL 64, Webster City 40

The Lynx came ready to pounce on NCC leader Clear Lake Friday night.  They jumped out to a 17-11 lead after one quarter and, according to Coach Jeremey Ainley, had the Lions on their heels.

“Webster City is always a well-coached and well prepared team. We were a step slow and they came out and got some easy looks and hit some shots.  We were a little selfish on offense and defense and were not communicating.”

The coach said the team switched things up defensively and began to catch fire just before the half to trim the Lynx lead to three, 24-21.

The game turned in the second half.

“In the second half we got some better looks on offense and knocked down some shots and guarded a lot better to outscore them 17-2,” said Ainley. 

The improved play continued in the final quarter, with the Lions getting better looks and pouring in 26 fourth quarter points for a comfortable 24-point win.

Carson Toebe led the Lions with 16 points, followed by Andrew Formanek with 15 points and 17 rebounds.  

Eric Ritter continued his steady improvement and also finished in double figures with 11 points.

Travaughn Luyobya  also had a career high with 10 points and three assists.  

“Overall it was a nice conference win,” added the coach.  “It was great to be able to get some more fans in to see us play as well.”

CL 62, Forest City 54

The Lions scored a personal victory, as well as a team one, when they topped Forest City Saturday.

“It’s always tough to turn around after a night game to play on a Saturday afternoon -- and we have not fared very well in years past with this situation, so I challenged our leadership to do a better job of having everybody ready to play,” said Coach Ainley.

Challenge accepted.

The Lions jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead and dominated early play.  They held the Indians to only six first quarter points and led 29-21 at the half.

“We switched things up defensively and played some more zone and the guys responded well.  In the second quarter we continued to play well and get the ball inside to our size advantage,” said Ainley.

The Indians cut the lead to six in the third quarter, but the Lions continued to work for good looks at the basket and made their free throws down the stretch to earn the victory.

The Lions were 15/22 from the line (68 percent) in the game.  Forest City had far fewer free throw attempts, but made the best of them.  They were 7/9.

Andrew Formanek had a monster game with 26 points and 18 rebounds.  Carson Toebe  also impressed with 18 points and five assists.  Eric Ritter had another efficient game with 11 points and five rebounds.  

Joe Faber came in to score three points and Jagger Schmitt and Travaughn  Luyobya each finished with two.

“I was happy to see us share the ball and finish a tough first week back, going 3-0 after break.  Now we have to continue to improve,” added the coach.

This week the Lions will host Fort Dodge St. Edmond Friday in a 7:45 p.m. conference game.  Tuesday, Jan. 19, they are at Algona.