Lions move to the top of 3A rankings; claim NCC title

(Above) Clear Lake’s Carson Toebe was the hero of the game when a put-back at the buzzer gave Clear Lake a one-point victory over Webster City on Monday, Jan. 21.  Toebe, a freshman, finished the game with 12-points and 10-rebounds.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

By Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake boys basketball team moved to the top of the Class 3A rankings with a hard-fought victory over Webster City and a win at Fort Dodge St. Edmond last week.  The win put a lock on the North Central Conference title for the Lions, as they are a perfect 10-0.  Algona and Webster City follow at 6-3.

CL 52, Webster City 51

A buzzer-beating put-back by Carson Toebe lifted the Lions to a one-point victory over North Central Conference rival Webster City, 52-51, Monday, Jan. 21.

“Webster (6-3) is always a tough out for Clear Lake and this game lived up to the hype – they were right behind us in the standings so we knew they would be ready to go,” said Coach Jeremey Ainley.

It was a game of two contrasting styles— the Lions wanted to run and the Lynx consistently tried to slow the pace.

The Lions jumped out to an early 13–6 lead and were playing the type of game they planned.  However, some untimely turnovers helped the Lynx to come back and claim a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Lions jumped out again, defended better, and took a  27-21 lead into half time by getting the game a little more to their pace.

“In the third quarter we had one of our worst quarters of the year offensively and defensively – shooting 3/15 and giving up 19 points in the meantime,” said Coach Ainley.

The Lions’ woes continued in the final frame, as poor decisions and cold shooting kept momentum in Webster City’s favor.

“We were able to continue to defend just well enough and create some turnovers to give us a shot,” said Ainley.

The Lions were able to take the lead briefly with 1:30 to go, but the Lynx weren’t about to give up.  They connected for another tough shot to reclaim the lead.

Down one point with :10 seconds to go, the Lynx missed the front end of a one and one.  Senior Drew Enke knew what to do.  He raced down the floor and drove, then hit a wide open Nick Danielson who launched a three-pointer.  The shot was off the rim, but freshman Carson Toebe caught the rebound in the air and put it up from slightly behind the backboard for the game winner with 0.8 seconds remaining.

Enke led the team with 20 points and nine rebounds.  Toebe finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Kody Kearns came off the bench to score five points.  Andrew Formanek, Jaylen DeVries and Jared Penning each had four points, and Tate Storbeck had three.

“Overall, it was good to get a win and showed a little bit of fight and resolve that we can find ways to win when we are not playing at our best,” said Coach Ainley.  “I was really proud of the effort and toughness.  Credit Webster City, they out played us for much of the game – sometimes it is okay to be lucky when you’re not at your best.  We held them to 33 percent shooting, but we only shot it 37 percent and had some bad turnovers.”

CL 79, St. Ed’s 61

The Lions responded to their close call

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early in the week with improved shooting and good defense in a 79-61 win on the road at St. Edmond (7-8, 5-5) Friday night, Jan. 25.

“It’s always a tough road trip in a tough place to play and we knew they would be gunning for us,” said Coach Ainley.

The Lions did their best to stamp out any thoughts of a Gael upset by getting off to a fast start.  They held a 24-16 lead after the first quarter on 10/13 shooting from the field.

The league’s leading scorer, Andrew Gibb, put his team on his shoulders in the second quarter.  Gibb, who is averaging 30 points per game, scored 21 in the second quarter to keep the halftime score close at 40-34.

In the second half the Lions were able to use their depth and Coach Ainley made a couple of adjustments defensively to limit Gibb.

“We held him to two points in the third quarter and were able to hit some shots and allow our defense to create some offense to go up 60-46,” said Ainley.

The team continued to apply pressure in the final quarter and came away with the 79-61 win.

The Lions were very balanced again with Drew Enke having 15 points, Tate Storbeck 13 points, Carson Toebe 11 and Jack Barragy shot it well and finished with 11 points.

Clear Lake also got eight points from Andrew Formanek and seven from Jaylen DeVries.  Kody Kearns and Will Finn had six apiece.  Jared Penning added two-points.

“I thought we bounced back and shot it well, shooting almost 60 percent from the field,” said Coach Ainley.  “When you are a highly ranked team, everybody is going to give you their best performance and make shots on you that maybe they haven’t been hitting in other games.”

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