Boys to host tournament
By Donnie A. Lucas
The Lion basketball teams closed out the fall semester with a set of games in Comanche on Dec. 20, with the varsity falling short while the two JV squads posted victories.
The varsity will host six other area teams in a two-day tournament on Friday and Saturday, with games starting at 10:00 a.m. on both days.
Albany will play Winters on Friday in the first game, followed by a 12:40 p.m. match against San Saba.
The Lions will open the action on Saturday with another 10:00 a.m. start against Hico. Albany will end the tournament with a 4:40 p.m. bout against Jayton.
The Lions will be back in regular play on Tuesday, Jan 7, the first day back in classes for students. The JV and varsity are scheduled to host the Abilene Hawks starting at 5:00 p.m.
Comanche Games
Playing in Comanche on the final school day prior to the Christmas break, the varsity Lions lost 62-37 to the Indians, dropping to 2-5 for the season.
“We did some things well at times in that game,” head boys coach Ryder Peacock said. “We are putting a lot of emphasis on attacking the basket, and I felt like we did that pretty well, but we missed shots we should have made.”
The coach said a couple of other elements of the game hurt the team.
“The two biggest factors for us were getting in foul trouble and giving up second-chance points,” he said. “We worked our way back after getting in foul trouble early, but unfortunately we did the same thing in the third period and let the game get away from us.
Albany 3 14 7 13 - 37
Comanche 14 11 19 18 - 62
Scoring for the Lions were Cole Chapman 2, B.J. Morris 7, Cade Neve 2, Ben West 10, Ryder Wilkins 3, and Blaine Kayga 13.
The JV Lions edged out Comanche’s JV 34-30 in overtime.
“We started slow but got going in the second quarter,” coach Rod Britting said. “We started putting pressure on them, and it paid off. It was good to win in overtime against a good team.”
The JV boys evened out their record at 5-5 with the win.
The coach named Barrett Beal and Caden Price as standouts on offense, along with Brooks Neece and Beal on defense.
The Lions trailed 13-12 at the half and were behind 23-18 after three periods. Albany came back to knot the game with a 12-7 fourth, then added four points in overtime.
Scoring were Neece 3, London Fuentes 4, Price 9, Beal 9, Robert Bailey 5, and Brodey Jones 4.
The JV II team easily won their bout, beating Comanche 41-24.
Britting called it the team’s best game so far.
“We got rolling early and hit our shots,” he said. “We had the game well in hand in the third and pulled off the dogs in the fourth for a great team effort.”
He named Jaheim Newton, Malachi Gueldner, and Rylan Roberson as standouts on offense, along with Ryan Mark, Nathanuel Dickson, and Newton on defense.
Scoring for the JV II were Gueldner 10, Mark 1, R.J. Moreno 2, Newton 16, Chris Hensley 4, and Roberson 8.
