Lions defeat Hawley 51-48 in overtime
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions boys basketball team endured ups and downs last week, emerging with a split against District 10-2A leaders Cisco and Hawley to strengthen its position in the playoff race.
The Lions (9-3 overall, 5-2 district) began the second half of the 10-2A schedule Tuesday, Jan. 24, with a 45-38 win at Haskell. Details will be reported next week.
Albany will host Hamlin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27.
On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the Lions saw their five-game winning streak end with a 65-51 loss at Cisco, but they bounced back Friday, Jan. 20 to edge Hawley 51-48 in overtime at home.
“It’s a process, but we’re getting there,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “Coming away with the Hawley win was big for us, especially at home. You’ve got to take care of your home floor.”
Albany entered its rematch with Haskell in sole possession of third place in the district standings. Peacock said the team is finally starting to round into basketball shape after the start of the season was delayed for six weeks during the football playoffs.
“You can see as the games get later that we’re starting to get our legs and make shots that we didn’t early on,” he said. “The kids are starting to get there.”
At Cisco, Albany was hampered by 27 fouls, including three technicals, with three players being disqualified. That left the Lions with no substitutes at the end of the game.
Cisco made 22 of 32 free throws, while Albany went 12 of 25 at the line.
Tied at 19 after one quarter, the Loboes used a 20-8 edge in the second quarter to pull away and maintained the margin in the second half.
Luke Marshall led Albany with 14 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter, while Hill exited with 10.
Against Hawley, Marshall put Albany ahead to stay at 45-43 with 2:09 to go in overtime as the Lions overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit with a makeshift lineup to hand the Bearcats their first district loss.
“Playing with seven guys against Hawley, it was a smaller rotation,” Peacock said. “I had to rotate quicker to give guys a breather.”
Wyatt Windham assumed Hill’s spot in the lineup and responded with a team-leading 14 points.
“Wyatt stepped up,” Peacock said. “We had to make sure he knew some of the things we were going to do. It was a quick tutorial, but he’s a smart kid.”
And that’s a quality shared by the rest of the team, the coach said.
“I think that’s the biggest thing about these kids – they play with high IQs, and they learn quickly,” Peacock said. “You can tell them something or draw something, and they can do it. That was big in a game like this.”
Albany trailed 32-22 with 1:18 to go in the third quarter but scored the next 12 points to go in front. Lute Wheeler’s basket with 2:50 left in regulation gave the Lions a 34-32 lead, their first since 12-11 in the second quarter.
Hawley’s Teaghan Knight, who scored 16 points, forced the extra period with a 3-pointer with nine seconds left.
In overtime, Albany led 47-43 with a minute to go and made four of six free throws the rest of the way. Knight’s 3-point attempt to tie missed at the buzzer.
London Fuentes scored 11 points to join Windham in double figures. Wheeler finished with nine points, all in the fourth quarter, while Marshall finished with eight.
CISCO 65, ALBANY 51
ALBANY – Luke Marshall 14, Adam Hill 10, Lute Wheeler 10, Wyatt Windham 7, Lanxton Viertel 4, Brayden Watson 3, London Fuentes 2, Branson Beal 1.
Albany 19 8 11 13 - 51
Cisco 19 20 12 14 - 65
ALBANY 51, HAWLEY 48 OT
ALBANY – Wyatt Windham 14, London Fuentes 11, Lute Wheeler 9, Luke Marshall 8, Brayden Watson 6, Branson Beal 2, Lanxton Viertel 1.
Hawley 4 14 14 9 7 - 48
Albany 7 5 14 15 10 - 51
Junior Varsity
The Lions played three JV games last week, splitting the roster into JV1 and JV2 against Cisco. The JV1 won 37-27, while JV2 lost 41-16. The reconstituted Lions then edged Hawley 31-28.
At Cisco, the JV1 nursed a slim lead into the fourth quarter before pulling away with a 13-9 edge in the final period. Huffman Heatly led Albany with 12 points while Slade Windham added eight.
“We played much better,” JV coach Rod Britting said. “We got hot on our 3s and we fed off that success and were able to build a lead. Cisco made a comeback, but we held them off in the end.”
In the JV2 game, cold shooting had Albany facing a 20-point deficit after three quarters. J.J. Clark and Bam Becker each scored six points for the Lions.
“The bottom line in this game was we couldn’t make a shot to save our lives,” Britting said. “We got a lot of looks but just couldn’t put it through the net.”
Against Hawley, Albany turned a halftime tie into a five-point lead in the third quarter, then held on at the end. Brody Oliver led the Lions with 12 points, While Heatly scored eight. Aiden Mendez added seven points, hitting two clutch free throws with four seconds left.
ALBANY JV1 37, CISCO 27
ALBANY – Huffman Heatly 12, Slade Windham 8, Brody Oliver 6, Cade Fairchild 5, Jaxson Street 4, Aiden Mendez 2.
Albany JV1 7 10 7 13 - 37
Cisco 5 9 4 9 - 27
CISCO 41, ALBANY JV2 16
ALBANY – J.J. Clark 6, Bam Becker 6, Woods Peterson 2, Kolt Koemel 2.
Albany JV2 3 4 2 7 - 16
Cisco 7 14 8 12 - 41
ALBANY JV 31, HAWLEY 28
ALBANY – Brody Oliver 12, Huffman Heatly 8, Aiden Mendez 7, Jaxson Street 2, Slade Windham 2.
Hawley 4 10 5 9 - 28
Albany JV 6 8 10 7 - 31
