Lions avenge only season loss

(Above) Joe Faber brings the ball down the floor against Humboldt.

by Marianne Gasaway

The Lions made the most of a second chance when they hosted Humboldt Friday night.  Clear Lake avenged their only loss of the season, 69-49.  The  win keeps them in a tie with Algona at the top of the North Central Conference standings.  Clear Lake is 6-1 in the league and 11-1 overall.  Algona is 5-1 and 8-4.

The game started much closer than the 20-point win indicates. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 8-3 lead, prompting Coach Jeremey Ainley to call a timeout.

“We called a timeout and just talked about our defensive intensity, which was lacking.  Our guys responded and ramped up the pressure a little more and outscored them 13-4 the rest of the quarter.”

The Lions built their lead to 34-22 at halftime, with aggressive defense leading to baskets.

Clear Lake continued to use its inside game to out muscle the competition and never relinquished the lead.   

“Our game plan was to get the ball inside and we shot 66 percent from two-point range.  We also limited them to shooting 32 percent from the field,” noted Ainley.

Andrew Formanek had a great overall game  with 23 points and 11 rebounds.  Carson Toebe was also a leader on offense with 21 points and 6 assists.

At center, Eric Ritter continues to play well and finished with 14 points.  The team also had some good contributions from Jae Faber with six points and Travaughn Luyobya with five points.

“Overall, it was a nice team win and with Algona’s loss puts us in a first place tie in conference,” added Ainley.  Algona fell to Iowa Falls-Alden (5-3, 9-6) Friday night, 57-52.