Osage ends Clear Lake’s season

The Clear Lake boys ran into a buzz saw at Osage Thursday in the Class 2A District 4 semifinal round.  The top seed Osage Green Devils excelled on their home floor in a 70-50 victory.

“We knew playing the number one seed in our district on the road in their gym would present some challenges and we certainly had some,” said Lions Coach Jeremy Ainley.

The game was actually much closer than the final score indicates.

Osage held a slim 20-16 lead after the first quarter.  The Lions were down by as many as 12 in the second quarter, but continued to battle and pulled within seven at the half, 36-29.

Clear Lake’s leading scorer, junior Thomas Storbeck, injured his ankle in the Lions’ first round game against St Ansgar and didn’t practice leading up to the Osage game, said Ainley.  Storbeck was hampered with foul trouble early in the game and eventually fouled out with seven points.

  “Zach Tatum kinda put us on his back and was scoring what felt like all of our first half points,” said Ainley.  “Thomas was on the bench with three fouls and we were just surviving.”

In the third quarter the Lions continued to battle and fought through foul trouble to be down by only six heading into the final period.

Down by six points with five-minutes to go, Storbeck fouled out and the Lions went cold.  The team scored just three points, while Osage  stayed steady with 17 for the 20-point win.

“Credit Osage for just making plays when we couldn’t,” said Coach Ainley.

Tatum, a senior, led the Lions with 18 points and “did everything,” according to his coach.  The senior was 7/10 from the field and 4/6 from the line.   He also grabbed three rebounds.

Zach Lester played great in a big game with 14 points, five assists and a blocked shot.  Jarod Anderson put in five points and Parker Truesdell and Justin Sholly each had three.  Sholly was the Lions’ leader on the boards with five rebounds.

“Overall, I am really proud of this team,” said Coach Ainley.  “Nobody is happy with the record or the results, but some guys really came out of this better.  Our seniors were tremendous players and people, we are going to miss all of them.  They were great representation of Clear Lake on and off the floor.  Some of our younger guys really grew up and got better this year and we look forward to them in the upcoming years.”

The Lions’ senior leadership included Tatum, Anderson, Truesdell, Sholly, Parker Pitzen, Lucas Kirchhoff and Nick Naumann.

Clear Lake ended the season with an 11-12 record.

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After a sluggish start in the first quarter, the Lions blew out St. Ansgar 87-56 in the quarterfinal round of the post-season.

St. Ansgar (9-13) jumped out to a 21-15 lead after the first quarter, but the Lions responded by outscoring the Saints 31-17 in the second quarter to take a 46-38 lead into halftime.

“We started a little tight, I thought, trying to get our first playoff win,” said Coach Ainley.  “We gave up way too many points in the first quarter and needed to settle in and just play.  In the second quarter we began to find our groove a little bit.”

In the second half the Lions were able to pick up their game defensively and continued to get easy buckets on offense.

Clear Lake held the Saints to six points in the third quarter and never looked back.

Thomas Storbeck paced the Lions with 22 points.  Zach Lester and Parker Truesdell were also in double figures.  Lester sunk nine of 10 free throw attempts on his way to 17 points.  The sophomore also had nine assists and five steals.  Trues dell was 2/2 at the line and finished with 10 points.

Free throw shooting was reliable throughout the Lion lineup.  The team was 22/25 at the charity stripe.

Eleven players scored in the win, including Justin Sholly with nine points, Jarod Anderson with eight, and Zach Tatum with seven.  Parker Pitzen put in four points, Lucas Kirchhoff and Nate DiCamillo each had three points, and Ryan Atkinson and Cody Matz had two points apiece.

Sholly also sparked the team with 10 rebounds.

“It was a nice overall effort for our first playoff win,” said Coach Ainley.  “It was a great team victory in which we had a lot of great contributions.”

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