Lions win 2, lose by 1 to Cisco
The Albany Lions were unbeaten in the District 10-2A boys basketball race with wins over Stamford and Anson last week, but ended up in a threeway tie after a loss to Cisco on Tuesday night in the local gym.
The Lions (now 8-2 overall, 4-1 district) were in first place enteringTuesday’sgame,which ended in a heartbreaking 46-47 loss. Details will be reported next week.
Albany visits Hawley on Friday, Jan. 19, to wrap up the first half of the district schedule.
“There were lots of good things,”LionsheadcoachRyder Peacock said of the two wins. “There are definitely still some things we need to work on. It’s coming along.”
The trick this week is to continue making progress as Cisco and Hawley are right behind the Lions in the standings.
“We’ve just got to continue getting better, little by little, game by game,” Peacock said.
In beating Stamford 73-41 on Tuesday, Jan. 9 and Anson 61-35 on Friday, Jan. 12, the Lions enjoyed good scoring distribution with eight of nine players scoring in each game. All nine players contributed points during the week.
“I’ve always thought if you have three guys who can score, you hope two of them are on and one can chip in eight or 10 points,” Peacock said. “This group does a good job of spreading it around. Adam Hill, Lanxton Viertel, and Lute Wheeler have all had some big games. Wyatt Windham’s had some good games.”
The distribution keeps opponents from focusing on one or two players.
“They can’t stay off a guy because he could easily go out and get eight, 10 points,” Peacock said. “It’s been huge to have guys who have the confidence to shoot it and then be able to finish. It’s definitely a blessing to have lots of guys on the floor atthesametimewhocanscore.”
At Stamford, Hill scored 21 points and Wheeler added 18.
The Lions took a 14-7 lead in the first quarter and pushed the advantage to 31-19 at halftime. Hill then had nine points in the third quarter as Albany outscored the Bulldogs 22-10.
“The guys settled in during the second and really played well, shot the ball well,” Peacock said. “We slowed the game down a little bit.”
At home against Anson, the Lions opened up a 14-6 lead in the opening period and upped it to 29-13 at the half. Albany finished the game by outscoring the Tigers 18-8 in the fourth quarter.
The Lions finished with three players in double figures. Hill had 18 points, 12 in the first half, with Wheeler adding 11 and Viertel 10.
“Anson was full-court pressure, kind of an up-tempo game,” Peacock said. “I think we played well, but we felt like we could have done more. We missed a lot of shots.”
The Lions overcame their offensive issues with defense.
“The guys continued playing good defense, making sure we’re not giving up too many second-chance opportunities,” Peacock said. 'We’re taking care of the ball on our end of the court and not giving teams opportunities to score easily.”
Junior Varsity
The JV Lions got in three wins during the week by splitting the roster.
Albany beat Stamford 61-50 with eight players in uniform. On Thursday, Jan. 11, the JV2 beat Woodson 41-36 with six players who did not suit up for Stamford. The reconstituted squad beat Anson 60-18.
At Stamford, the Lions overcame a 16-13 deficit in the first quarter to lead 30-26 at halftime. Slade Windham led Albany with 18 points, and Huffman Heatly added 15.
Against Woodson, the JV2 won a back-and-forth game that saw the Cowboys lead 10-6 after one quarter before Albany took an 18-17 halftime lead. Woodson went back in front 29-28 in the third before the Lions finished with a 13-7 edge in the fourth. Bam Becker led Albany with 15 points.
Against Anson, the Lions led 17-10 at the end of the first quarter, then held the Tigers to eight points the rest of the way. Heatly was the leading scorer with 15 points.
See Basketball, pg. 3B ALBANY 73, STAMFORD 41 ALBANY – Adam Hill 21, Lute Wheeler 18, Wyatt Windham 9, Brayden Watson 8, Lanxton Viertel 7, Branson Beal 5, Cole Read 3, Chip Chambers 2.
Albany 14 17 22 20 - 73 Stamford 7 12 10 12 - 41 ALBANY 61, ANSON 35 ALBANY – Adam Hill 18, Lute Wheeler 11, Lanxton Viertel 10, Luke Marshall 8, Branson Beal 6, Brayden Watson 4, Chip Chambers 2, Wyatt Windham 2.
Anson 5 7 15 8 - 35 Albany 14 15 14 18 - 61 ALBANY JV 61, STAMFORD 50 ALBANY JV – Slade Windham 18, Huffman Heatly 15, Brody Oliver 9, Jaxson Street 9, Mason McCloy 5, Cade Fairchild 3, Aaden Mendez 2.
Albany JV13 17 15 16 - 61 Stamford 16 10 11 13 - 50 ALBANY JV2 41, WOODSON 36 ALBANY JV2 – Bam Becker 15, Zane Green 8, Breylon Billington 7,ConnorSmith6,DylanPaxton5.
Woodson 10 7 12 7 - 36 Albany 6 12 10 13 - 41 ALBANY JV 60, ANSON 18 ALBANY JV – Huffman Heatly 15, Slade Windham 8, Cade Fairchild 7, Aaden Mendez 7, Mason McCloy 7, Jaxson Street 6, Wesley Gleitz 5, Bam Becker 3, Zane Green 2.
Anson 10 3 2 3 - 18 Albany JV17 18 13 12 - 60
