Lions open with two wins

(Above) Clear Lake’s Tate Storbeck has his eye on the prize as he goes in for two of his 15-points against West Fork.  Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

The Clear Lake boys basketball team is off to a 2-0 start.  The Lions opened the season last week with wins over West Fork and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.

CL 62, West Fork 47

The Lions kicked off the season against a quality opponent.  West Fork returns three good guards which had Lion Head Coach Jeremey Ainley concerned.  Aggressive play on offense and defensive intensity lifted the Lions to a 62-47 victory.

“We had a great intensity on the defensive end to start the game,” said Ainley.  “We were able to force them into some contested shots and able to make some shots to jump out 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.”

In the second quarter the Lions continued to attack the rim and got some great looks, while at the same time guarding effectively.  The effort had the home team ahead, 32-21 at halftime.   

Defense helped the Lions seal the deal in the second half.  They outscored the Warhawks 15-13 in each period for the 62-47 win.

“Overall, I was really happy with our defensive effort.  We held them to 35 percent shooting and we were able to outscore them 46-16 in the paint,” said Coach Ainley. “I was also very pleased with our rebounding effort.  We were led  Drew Enke’s 19 points and six rebounds.  Tate Storbeck scored 15 points and Andrew Formanek had a great game with 10 points and 14 rebounds.  Carson Toebe had a nice game as well with eight points and five assists.

Also scoring for the Lions was Jared Penning and Kody Kearns, each with four points, and Carter Backhaus with two.

“It was a nice opening game effort and something to build off of,” said Coach Ainley.

CL 74, C-G-D 51

In their first road game of the season the Lions started slow, but roared back in the second half for a 74-51 victory.

“It was our first road game, so we didn’t know exactly what to expect with our team; Clarion is also rebuilding a little, so I wanted to see our mental makeup in a game that we should win,” said Coach Ainley.

The Lions were a bit sluggish at the start and were down 10-2 early.  Jack Barragy provided a bit of a spark on the defensive side, coming off the bench and helped the team trim the score to 15-7 with about three-minutes to go in the quarter.  From their the Lions went on a 13-0 run and continued to outscore the Cowboys on their way to a 39-22 halftime lead.

Defense helped the Lions outscore their host 20-7 in the third quarter, allowing Coach Ainley to let most of his lineup get playing time.

“To hold a team to 26 percent shooting and outscore them 54-16 in the paint will win you a lot of games,” said Ainley.

Drew Enke and Andrew Formanek led the Lions with 10 points apiece.  Jaylen DeVries had a good all-around game with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.  Barragy had a strong game on both sides of the ball and finished with nine points.

“Overall we had 12 guys score, which kind of shows some of the depth we possess this year,” noted the coach.

Carson Toebe finished with seven points, seven rebounds and five assists.  Tate Storbeck put in eight points, Kody Kearns six, and Chase Stuver scored five-points.  Jared Penning and Ryan Thomas had four and three-points respectively.  Carter Backhaus and Will Finn chipped in two-points apiece.

“I really like this team, we are athletic, share the ball and are fun to watch.”

Lion fans will have a chance to watch the team this Friday, Dec. 7, as they host Iowa Falls-Alden in a North Central Conference matchup.