Lions keep pace in district, look to move up
The Albany Lions kept pace in the District 10-2A boys basketball race, defeating Stamford 66-28 on Friday, Feb. 2 in their only game of the week.
The Lions (12-3 overall, 8-2 district) visited Anson on Tuesday, Feb. 6, winning 6736. Details will be reported next week.
Albanyclosesouttheregular season with games against the two teams it trails in the district standings – Friday, Feb. 9 at Cisco and Tuesday, Feb. 13 at home against Hawley. Both games are scheduled for 6:15 p.m. starts.
The win over Stamford left the Lions tied with Cisco in the standings, but the Loboes hold a head-to-head win.Albany still has an outside chance to catch Hawley for first place.
“Hawley beating Cisco kind of cinched first place – Haskell or Hamlin has to beat Hawley – but we still have chance to get second if we stay clean the rest of the way,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “If we end up winning two of the three, we could tie for second. There’s a lot still at stake.”
Against Stamford, the Lions had to deal with illness as well as the Bulldogs. Senior Cole Read and juniors Branson Beal and Chip Chambers did not suit up.
“The last two weeks have been interesting,” Peacock said. “We haven’t had a full-team practice in that time. You just show up not knowing which ones you’re going to have. Even Adam Hill and Lute Wheeler battled days out this week.”
Fortunately, Albany’s open date on Tuesday, Jan. 30 meant the Lions didn’t have to play without the two starters.
“The district bye couldn’t have come at a better time,” Peacock said. “We were really sick Tuesday. It’s one of those things where it’s next man up.”
Sophomores Huffman Heatly and Aaden Mendez were called on to pull double duty against Stamford, playing in both varsity and JV games.
“They were able to get in some really good playing time,” Peacocksaid.“Basically,youget two games a week. As long as you don’t play another game, you’re good, and it was after the school week ended.”
Despite the health issues, the Lions took control early and weren’t challenged after the opening minutes. Leading 4-2 two minutes into the contest, Albany went on a 21-3 run that produced a 25-5 lead with 6:11 left in the second quarter.
After outscoring Stamford 20-5 in the opening period, the Lions doubled the Bulldogs’ output in each of the last three. Albany closed the third quarter on a 15-5 run to lead 52-31 and led by as much as 40 in the fourth quarter.
Three Albany players finished in double figures. Hill scored17points,while Brayden Watson added 11 and Lanxton Viertel scored 10. All eight players who suited up scored.
Junior Varsity
The Lions JV team, which also had players out due to sickness, overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to win 42-29.
Heatly scored 14 points, 11 coming in the third quarter as Albany outscored the Bulldogs 20-4.
Mason McCloy scored all of Albany’s points in the first quarter, which ended in a 5-5 tie. Stamford scored the first six points of the second period and led 18-10 at the break.
The margin was still eight early in the third quarter before the Lions went on an 18-2 run to take the lead. Jaxson Street’s basket put Albany in front to stay at 23-22 with 3:50 remaining in the quarter, which ended with Albany ahead 30-22.
On Monday, Feb. 5,Albany’s JV2 dropped a 31-30 decision to Woodson in its final outing of the season.
Once again, illness played a role for the Lions as four regular players were joined by two recruits from the offseason program. The lack of depth and experience were felt in the second half, which saw Woodson outscore Albany 22-7 after the Lions led 23-9 at halftime.
Bam Becker ledAlbany with 14 points with Zane Green
ALBANY 66, STAMFORD 28 ALBANY– Adam Hill 17, Brayden Watson 11, Lanxton Viertel 10, Wyatt Windham 9, Luke Marshall
7, Lute Wheeler 7, Huffman Heatly
3, Aaden Mendez 2.
Stamford 5 6 10 7 - 28 Albany 20 12 20 14 - 66
ALBANY JV 42, STAMFORD 29 ALBANY JV – Huffman Heatly
14, Slade Windham 8, Aaden Mendez 6, Jaxson Street 6, Mason McCCloy 5, Brody Oliver
2, Breylon Billington 1.
Stamford 5 13 4 7 - 29 Albany JV 5 5 20 12 - 42 WOODSON 31, ALBANY JV2 30 ALBANY JV2 – Bam Becker 14, Zane Green 12, Breylon Billington
4, Dylan Paxton 2.
Woodson 6 3 11 11 - 31 Albany JV2 9 14 4 3 - 30
