Lions survive bi-district nailbiter
Thursday in Graham
The Albany Lions had to hold on tight Monday, Feb. 19 in the opening round of the Class 2A boys basketball playoffs, but managed to escape with a 51-50 bidistrict victory over Windthorst atBreckenridge.
“We had a lot of highs and lows,butwekept battling,” Lions coachRyderPeacock said. “This was a little different, playing on a Monday. We didn’t have awarmupgame, we’d been off for basically aweek, not to mention it was a school holiday.Ialways hold my breath whenever we play on a holiday, and I think that had a little bit to do with it.”
The Lions (15-3) will take on No. 2 Lipan (30-4) at 6:00 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 (tonight) in Graham. Lipan beat Hamilton 59-39 in bi-district.
Tickets are $4 each and are available online at https://grahamisd. com/272594_2.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, Albany defeated Hawley 59-38 in the final game of the District 10-2A schedule. The win secured a second-place finish for the Lions in the district standings.
Before taking on Hawley, Albany honored seniors Cole Read,WyattWindham,Lanxton Viertel, Adam Hill, Luke Marshall, BraydenWatson,andLute Wheeler for their contributions to the program with a Senior Night ceremony.
Against Windthorst, Windham hit a basket with 58 seconds remaining to put Albany ahead to stay after the Trojans rallied from 15 points down to tie the score with less than two minutes to go.
“I’ve been on the other side of those games where the other team has all the momentum,” Peacock said. “The team that lost the lead just never could recover. The guys did a good job of staying with it.”
WindhamandMarshalleach scored 15 points. Windham had sixofAlbany’seightinthefourth quarter.
Thatwasjustenoughtooffset the production of Windthorst’s Brayden Berend and Brock Belcher. Berend scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the final period, including three free throwsthatwerethefinalpoints of the game. Belcher had eight of his 11 points in the fourth.
TheLionspulledaheadearly, leading by seven after one quarter and five at halftime. Albany led by as much as 20 in the third quarter and carried a 15-point lead into the fourth. Then the Trojans battled back. With Berend and Belcher combining for five 3-pointers, Windthorst started the final period with a 19-4 run, pulling even at 47 47 with 1:58 remaining. After he scored Albany’s last basket, Windham hit two free throws with less than 13 seconds left togivetheLions a four-point edge. Windthorst cut the margin to one point, but Albany managed to run out the clock without allowing the Trojans another possession.
Butuntilthebuzzersounded, it wasn’t a sure thing for the Lions.
“It never felt comfortable,” Peacock said. “There was never a moment of ‘oh, we’ve got this’.”
Two missed Albany free throws with four seconds left keptWindthorsthopesalive,but Hill secured the rebound.
“We ended up having to inbound it with 0.4 seconds left,” Peacock said.
Albany vs. Hawley
Against Hawley, the Lions leftnodoubtabouttheirposition in the district by handing the Bearcats their lone district loss.
“That was probably the first time we’ve had everybody healthy in two or three weeks,” Peacock said. “Guys have been out with sickness, some of them for the better part of two weeks.”
Peacock said it was the first time in the second half of district that the Lions started clicking in all areas.
“That was us finally coming together and seeing what we can be,” he said. “We knew all along what we could get to; we just never could get everybody together at the same time.”
Hill led the Lions with 17 points. Watson added 13 off the bench, putting him in double figures for the third time in four games.
Albany built a seven-point lead in the first quarter and managed to add to it in the second despite the pace slowing considerably. The Lions pulled awayinthesecondhalf,outscoring the Bearcats 35-22.
Junior Varsity
The Lions JV team closed out its season with a 39-30 victory over Hawley behind a strong first half.
Albany built a seven-point lead in the first quarter and pushed the margin to 15 at halftime, then held off the Bearcats over the final two periods.
Aaden Mendez led the Lions with 11 points, while Huffman Heatly added nine points.
ALBANY 59, HAWLEY 38 ALBANY – Adam Hill 17, Brayden Watson 13, Luke Marshall 8, Wyatt Windham 6, Lanxton Viertel 5, Chip Chambers 5, Lute Wheeler 5.
Hawley 11 5 12 10 - 38 Albany 18 6 17 18 - 59 ALBANY JV 39, HAWLEY 30 ALBANY JV – Aaden Mendez 11, Huffman Heatly 9, Wesley Gleitz 6, Breylon Billington 5, Slade Windham 3, Brody Oliver 2, Jaxson Street 2.
Hawley 4 4 8 14 - 30 Albany JV11 12 6 9 - 39 CLASS 2A BI-DISTRICT PLAYOFF At Breckenridge ALBANY 51, WINDTHORST 50 ALBANY – Wyatt Windham 15, Luke Marshall15,AdamHill8,LanxtonViertel 7, Chip Chambers 4, Branson Beal 2.
Windthorst9 13 6 22 - 50 Albany 16 11 16 8 - 51
