Lions clinch playoff spot with key wins over Anson, Hawley
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions secured their spot in the Class 2A Division II boys basketball playoffs last week with a pair of home victories, building momentum for the postseason.
“It was nice to get those wins because it allows us to move forward with our playoff plans and who we’re going to play,” coach Ryder Peacock said. “If we’d been in a tiebreaker, we’d have to wait until Friday to play that off. That would give us very little time to prepare for the playoffs.”
The Lions (13-7 overall, 8-4 District 10-2A) secured at least a third-place finish in the district standings and will enter the playoffs as the district’s No. 1 seed in the Division II bracket. With Albany having the final bye in the district schedule on Tuesday, Feb. 11, head coach Ryder Peacock arranged a warmup game against Whiteface on Thursday, Feb. 13 in Ira, with tip-off at 4:00 p.m.
The bi-district opponent was not determined until Tuesday night. Peacock announced Wednesday morning that Albany will play Petrolia on Monday, Feb. 17 at Graham High School.
Game time is 7:30 p.m., with tickets available online at the Albany or Graham school websites.
Albany officially qualified Tuesday, Feb. 4 with a 47-40 win over Anson, then avoided any tiebreaker scenarios Friday, Feb. 7 by beating second-place Hawley 50-30.
“The guys did a really good job with two good games against playoff-quality teams,” Peacock said. “It wasn’t easy, but the guys came through it. They worked real hard and finished off strong.”
Against Anson, Clay Chapman led Albany with 14 points, hitting a tiebreaking 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to put the Lions ahead to stay.
“That was a big shot for Clay’s confidence level,” Peacock said. “He stepped into it and never hesitated. That was only his third game back after sitting out for two weeks, so that was big for him.”
Chip Chambers added 11 points and Aaden Mendez scored 10, giving the Lions three players in double figures.
Albany led 31-17 at half, but Anson rallied to within 39-36 after three quarters. The Tigers pulled even at 40-40 early in the fourth on 3-pointer by Colton Sharples.
“We talk about it all the time and that was playoff basketball right there,” Peacock said. “You’re going to have some games that come down to the wire and you need to have confidence that you’re going to know how to finish. We had a lot of young kids in terms of varsity experience coming into the year and being in a game like that can only help us as we prepare for the playoffs.”
Against Hawley, the Lions led 21-20 at halftime before taking control with a 15-4 advantage in the third quarter.
“It was a tight game well into the third quarter, then we just took off,” Peacock said. “In the last two minutes of the third quarter, we went on something like a 12-0 run. We changed our defense up a little bit, hit some shots, got some momentum going, made some steals and it all kind of snowballed for us.”
Albany continued to pull away over the final eight minutes and finished up holding the Bearcats to 18 points over the last three periods.
“We did a really good job of putting it away,” Peacock said. “We spread the floor out and attacked the basket, got to the free throw line and finished strong.”
Mendez finished with 18 points, scoring 11 in the second half, while Chapman added 17.
ALBANY 47 – ANSON 43
ALBANY 14 17 8 8 - 47 ANSON 10 7 19 7 - 43 ALBANY – Clay Chapman 14, Chip Chambers 11, Aaden Mendez 10, Huffman Heatly 8, Will Barrett 4.
ALBANY 50 – HAWLEY 30
ALBANY 13 8 15 14 - 50 HAWLEY 12 8 4 6 - 30 ALBANY – Aaden Mendez 18, Clay Chapman 17, Chip Chambers 6, Huffman Heatly 5, Will Barrett 4.
ford....7....3...13...11...—...34
Albany.....13...11...15....6...—...45
ALBANY — Aaden Mendez 17, Huffman Heatly 15, Chip Chambers 11, Branson Beal 2.
