Albany pushes Christoval into overtime

By Donnie A. Lucas

It was a true cat fight in Tuscola on Monday, with the Lions and the Christoval Cougars clawing their way to a 33-33 tie at the end of regulation time in the bi-district round of the Class 2A playoffs.

The Cougars came out on top, outscoring Albany 10-6 in overtime for a 43-39 win.

“I thought the guys did a great job of playing hard tonight,” coach Ryder Peacock said. “Defensively, we did exactly what we needed to do to keep the game around 40 points by not allowing Christoval to run transition and eliminate second-chance points.”

The coach commended the Lions for the fight they showed on the court.

“Overall, the guys were very resilient and fought to the buzzer,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for more than what our guys gave in that game.”

The Lions ended the season with a 9-16 record overall, including a 3-7 mark in District 8-2A that landed them in fourth place.

The coach named Ben West and Blaine Kayga as offensive standouts for the game.

Albany 7 3 8 15 6 - 39

Christoval 8 8 9 8 10 - 43

Scoring for Albany in the game were Kayga 8, Coy Lefevere 6, Cade Neve 1, Cole Chapman 5, B.J. Morris 4, West 13, and Ryder Wilkins 2.

The Lions played their regular season finale against Stamford last week, plus picking up a playoff practice game with Sterling City.

Albany came out on top of the practice game played in Forsan, beating Sterling City 49-46.

“We were able to run some different offenses that we haven’t used in a while and got some good results,” Peacock said. “Overall, we played pretty well against a good team.”

West, Kayga, and Chapman were the offensive leaders.

Albany 9 14 13 13 - 49

Sterling City 11 12 16 7 - 46

Scoring were Kayga 10, Lefevre 3, Neve 2, Chapman 8, Seth Hale 3, Morris 2, Luke Ivy 3, West 16, Wilkins 2.

The varsity wrapped the regular season at home with a 75-57 loss to Stamford.

“There were two areas that really hurt us – our free throws in the first half (1 for 11) and the third quarter,” Peacock said. “If we had made our free throws early, we would have been a good position late in the game. We had some guys really step up and do things that we knew they could do to contribute, including Seth Hale with 14 points in the fourth.”

The coach named Hale and West as offensive standouts.

Albany 12 13 4 28 - 57

Stamford 13 17 16 29 - 75

Scoring for the Lions were Kayga 8, Lefevre 8, Neve 5, Chapman 2, Hale 14, Morris 1, and West 19.

JV Finishes 10-0

The JV Lions ended the district race as the undisputed winner with a perfect 10-0 record. They were 19-8 for the season.

Albany beat the Stamford JV 51-25.

“This was a big finish to the season,” said Peacock. “I thought Barrett Beal and London Fuentes set the tone early, and the guys never let up.”

The coach commended the group, noting that they played a tough pre-district schedule that included several varsity teams.

“They faced a challenging schedule against a lot of bigger schools early in the season,” he said. “This is the first group in a long time that has gone undefeated in district.”

Beal and Fuentes were named offensive standouts, along with Brodey Jones on defense.

Albany 14 18 11 8 - 51

Stamford 2 10 3 10 - 25

Scoring were Brooks Neece 2, Keatin Russell 2, Fuentes 17, Caden Price 2, Beal 17, Jones 4, and Zach Parrott 7.