Lions move to area with win over Petrolia

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions boys basketball team opened the playoffs Tuesday, Feb. 22, with a 52-45 bi-district win against Petrolia at Graham, moving them on to the area round.

The Lions will play the Italy Gladiators (21-4) Friday, Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the Weatherford High School gym, with Albany fans on the home side. Details were still being worked out on Wednesday morning at press time, but tickets are expected to be available online only at weatherfordisd.com, and passes will be accepted.

Details about the Albany-Petrolia game will be reported next week.

The Lions, who finished third in District 10-2A, tuned up for postseason play on Tuesday, Feb. 15, against Priddy, losing 49-45.

In picking up the practice game, Albany avoided going 11 days without playing following its regular-season finale at Haskell on Feb. 11.

“That was the main thing we were trying to accomplish, getting on the floor and keeping our routiune,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “We had that open date at the end of our district schedule, and we needed to be on the court, and I didn’t want anything later in the week.”

Peacock said only so much work can be done in practice.

“You can’t practice the up-and-down you get in a game,” he said. “We were able to get out there and maintain our conditioning.”

At Priddy, Albany built a 10-point halftime lead, but the Pirates rallied to outscore the Lions 30-16 in the second half.

“Priddy plays basketball year-round, and they got after us,” Peacock said.  “We were down eight or nine points late and were able to work on some game situations, which was good for us. We saw what we needed to do and learned for the next time we’re in that situation.”

Cole Chapman scored 15 points to lead Albany with Adam Hill adding nine.

While much of Albany’s roster played its first postseason basketball game Tuesday, Peacock said the team has plenty of playoff experience in other sports which will help.

“Of the 10 players, about eight of them have been in a playoff atmosphere in some sport,” he said. “Anytime you can get experience beyond district, no matter what sport, it’s going to carry over a little bit.”

PRIDDY 49, ALBANY 45

ALBANY – London Fuentes 4, Coy Lefevre 6, Cole Chapman 15, Adam Hill 9, Houston Heatly 3, Luke Marshall 4, Lanxton Viertel 4.

Albany 11 18 6 10 - 45

Priddy 8 11 11 19 - 49