Lions win a close one in Class 3A Sub-State semifinals

by Marianne Gasaway

The Lions stepped up their defense in the second half and held on to win against Spencer, 58-55, in the Class 3A Sub-State semifinals played Thursday in Clear Lake.  The victory put the Lions in the Sub-State finals against Humboldt Tuesday night (March 2).  Clear Lake (21-2) and Humboldt (15-7) met twice during the regular season, with each team picking up a win on the road.  

Clear Lake Coach Jeremey Ainley said he expected Humboldt to get past Algona in their semi-final game.  

“They are similar to us — with big bodies.  It’s never easy, but it’s been our goal all year to be in this game and I think we’ll be locked in and ready.”

Against Spencer, the Lions took some time to lock in, but the coach said at halftime his players “listened, bought in and played well in the second half.”

“We knew they had a really good player that was having a great season,” said Ainley, referencing Spencer’s Karter Petzenhauser, a junior who came in averaging 23 points a game.  “We were a little slow on our defensive rotations in the first half and gave up some easy looks inside to them and we also didn’t guard the three-point line very well and gave them some open looks in the first half.”

The two teams traded the lead throughout the first quarter and were tied five times before Carson Toebe sunk the first of four three-pointers to give Clear Lake a 14-11 lead.  The Tigers ended the period with a basket for a 15-14 advantage.

Spencer broke away from a 25-24 lead with 3:30 left in the half and were up by as many as seven before Toebe struck again from three-point range to pull the Lions to within four, 33-29, at intermission.

“We were down at half, but knew we hadn’t played our best yet, or guarded how we knew we could,” said Ainley.  

Defensive adjustments made at halftime were successful and the Lions held their opponent to just seven points in the third quarter, tying the score at 40-40.

Momentum seemed to be clearly in the Lions’ favor, as Andrew Formanek hit a jumper, Toebe drained another three, and Joe Faber hit nothing but net on a trey.  The 8-0 run quickly had the Lions up 48-40 with 6:26 remaining.

The Tigers weren’t about to give up and Petzenhauser’s three-pointer at the six-minute mark put his team within five, 48-43.  

A back door cut and layup by Formanek, followed by a Toebe steal and basket by Travaughn Luyobya  kept the Tigers at bay, 52-43.

The Tigers had committed only one foul going into the final three-minutes and they took advantage of that down the stretch, playing aggressively to either come up with a steal, or put a Lion on the line.  Formanek sunk one of two free throws to keep his team ahead, 53-47, but a steal on an inbounds pass and basket had the Tigers within four, 53-49, with 2:15 remaining.  A basket by Formanek was sandwiched between two from Petzenhauser and suddenly the score was 55-53 Clear Lake, with 1:17 to go.

With under one-minute to play the Lions were still clinging to a two-point lead when Spencer committed its sixth foul, sending Toebe to the line.  The Clear Lake junior hit one of two, making the score 58-55.

Petzenhauser went to the line with 3.4 seconds left, but a miss all but sealed Spencer’s fate and Clear Lake escaped with the win.  The Tiger junior ended the game with 20 points.

“In the fourth quarter we got our offense in a little better flow and built a nine-point lead.  Unfortunately, we had a couple silly turnovers and gave up some easy baskets to let it be a lot closer than it needed to be at the end,” said the coach.

Toebe and Formanek scored 25 and 16 points respectively, which was enough to put each over the 1,000 career point mark.

“It is a great accomplishment for two great players and two good friends and doing it on the same night was even more special,” said Coach Ainley.

Faber was a spark off the bench with nine points.  Eric Ritter and Luyobya had four apiece.

“It was a really good game against a really good opponent,” said Coach Jeremey Ainley after the exciting win. “Whether by three points or 30, it doesn’t matter -- just keep advancing!”

The winner of Tuesday night’s game between Clear Lake and Humboldt will qualify for the State Tournament.  Class 3A play will begin Tuesday afternoon, March 9.  Semi-finals would follow on Thursday, March 11, with the Championship game slated for 5 p.m. Friday, March 12.