Lions strengthen playoff hopes with district wins
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions varsity boys basketball team improved its chances of earning a playoff berth last week with a pair of wins over District 10-2A opponents.
The Lions (10-6 overall, 5-3 district) continued their push for a postseason spot Tuesday, Jan. 28 with a 55-10 home win against Abilene TLCA. Details will be reported next week.
On Friday, Jan. 31, Albany visits district leader Cisco for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The Lions return home Tuesday, Feb. 4 to host Anson for Senior Night. At halftime of the Anson game, Nancy Smith Elementary students will showcase their skills under the direction of NSES PE teachers Ashlyn Bevel and Makinzie Tomascik.
Albany opened last week on Tuesday, Jan. 21 with a 45-34 home victory over Stamford. The Lions followed that up Friday, Jan 24 with a 35-25 win at Haskell to take a three-game lead over the Indians for the final playoff spot.
“We knew coming in those were two huge games for us just to get going again after three losses,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “And they were critical for the district standings. The wins put us in a good position moving forward where we control our own destiny.”
Albany entered this week fourth in the district standings, three games ahead of Haskell for the final playoff spot.
The Lions were able to snap a three-game losing streak despite battling the wave of sickness sweeping through the area. Cisco closed school for a few days last week and Haskell cancelled all subvarsity games against Albany because of the situation.
“We’re battling it a little bit, but we haven’t been hit with it hard where we have a lot of guys out,” Peacock said. “We still haven’t been at full strength for a week or two. We’re just kind of plugging along.”
Against Stamford, Albany built a 24-10 halftime lead and held on as the Bulldogs tried to rally. Aaden Mendez scored 17 points as the Lions finished with three players in double figures. Huffman Heatly added 15 points and Chip Chambers had 11.
At Haskell, the Lions again held a double-digit halftime lead and withstood another comeback attempt. Heatly scored 13 points and Mendez added 10 to lead Albany.
“Against Haskell, we didn’t score well but we held them to six points the first half,” Peacock said. “Neither team could really get in a rhythm. We had some opportunities to really put it away that we’d like to have back, but the main thing is we didn’t let it get away from us.”
