Lions start second half with loss

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions basketball team put together another solid performance in its only outing last week to get back to .500 in District 10-2A play, at least temporarily.

On Tuesday, Jan. 18, Albany defeated Haskell 54-26 to wrap up the first half of district before taking an open date.

“I thought we were more aggressive and wanted to play a little bit harder,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “We got some more offensive  rebounds.”

Albany visited Hawley on Tuesday, Jan. 25 to start the second half, losing a competitive game 58-48. The Lions will host Hamlin on Friday, Jan. 28. With Tuesday’s loss, Albany is 6-5 overall and 3-4 in district.

Haskell Details

Against Haskell, the Lions jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the first quarter and outscored the Indians in every period.

“I think we’re finally playing better defensively,” Peacock said. “That’s two games in a row where we’ve held an opponent to a pretty low score and that’s important.”

London Fuentes led Albany with 13 points, while Cole Chapman added nine.

The Lions again received solid production off the bench with Houston Heatly scoring seven points, Lanxton Viertel six, and Luke Marshall five.

“Offensively, our shots are going to start coming along, but defensively is where we want to see real progression, and I think we’re starting to see that,”
Peacock said. “Guys are starting to understand where they need to be. The help defense is getting better.”

Albany’s bye in the district schedule came exactly midway. Peacock said the timing couldn’t have been better.

“It was a chance for us to come off two good wins and regroup for the second half,” he said. “We’ve got some big ballgames coming up and we had a chance to get our minds refocused and work on some things we were able to do in the first half, build on those, and carry them into the second half of district.”

ALBANY 54, HASKELL 26

ALBANY – London Fuentes 13, Coy Lefevre 4, Cole Chapman 9, Adam Hill 6, Luke Ivy 1, Houston Heatly 7, Bryson Herring 3, Luke Marshall 5, Lanxton Viertel 6.

Haskell 4 4 8 10 - 26

Albany 13 15 15 11 - 54

Junior Varsity

The Lions’ junior varsity game against Haskell on Jan. 18 was cancelled because of both schools dealing with illness.

It was the second game in a row to be cancelled for the Albany JV.

Peacock said the JV team should be able to finish out the rest of its schedule.