Varsity Lions get basketball underway
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions varsity basketball team went 3-1 last week at the Hermleigh tournament in its first action of the season.
The Lions, who didn’t start practice until after the football team completed its season, got started on Thursday, Dec. 16, with a 43-27 victory against Bronte and a 44-35 decision against Merkel.
On Friday, Albany beat Coahoma 64-48 before suffering a 43-34 loss on Saturday to San Angelo Cornerstone.
“We were really happy with what we saw,” Lions coach Ryder Peacock said. “There are some things that we need to get better at, but at the same time, there were things that we were really pleased with, especially at this point in the season, just three or four days in.”
Peacock brought up four players from junior varsity to provide depth for the tourney.
“They’re battling for what you might consider a final spot on the varsity,” Peacock said. “We’re looking at the possibility of having some guys compete a little bit, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That should make them play and practice a little harder knowing there are spots on the line.”
Albany opened its District 10-2A schedule Tuesday against Hawley, which is even further behind than the Lions. The Bearcats played in the Class 2A Division I football state final on Wednesday, Dec. 15, and were playing their first basketball game of the season. Details will be reported in the Jan. 6 issue of the News.
Varsity Details
In beating Bronte 43-27, the Lions took a 10-5 lead in the first quarter and led 22-10 at halftime. Albany pushed the lead to 37-17 in the third quarter. Adam Hill led a balanced offense with eight points, followed by Cole Chapman with seven and London Fuentes and Lanxton Viertel with six apiece. Brayden Watson scored five points, while Houston Heatly and Luke Marshall added four apiece. Bryson Herring had two points and Luke Ivy scored one.
In the 44-35 win against Merkel, the Lions trailed 3-2 after one quarter, 14-12 at halftime and 25-24 after three before outscoring the Badgers 20-10 in the fourth quarter.
Hill scored a team-high 15 points with Chapmann adding 11. London Fuentes scored 10 points, all in the fourth quarter. Viertel had four points with Marshall and Ivy each scoring two.
“That first day, I thought we had some good outings,” Peacock said. “We faced off against a Merkel team that thus far has been pretty impressive. It was interesting to see how we matched up there.”
In Friday’s 64-48 win against Coahoma, Chapman erupted for 31 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Viertel added 14 points, and Fuentes had 13. Heatly scored four points, and Marshall had two.
Albany trailed 16-14 after the first quarter, but rallied to take a 37-33 haltime lead. The Lions increased the margin to 53-44 in the third.
In Saturday’s 43-24 loss to Cornerstone, Albany fell behind 16-10 in the first quarter and trailed 26-18 at halftime.
Fuentes led the Lions with 13 points, followed by Chapman with seven. Ivy and Lute Wheeler each scored four points, while Heatly and Viertel added two apiece.
“We were dead-legged and didn’t have much left in the tank,” Peacock said. “We missed a lot of shots that we were making those first two days. We were pretty drained.”
Junior Varsity Games
Before several junior varsity players were called up to augment the varsity roster for the weekend, the Lions JV teams won a pair of home games on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
The JV1 team defeated Coleman 49-22, while the JV2 knocked off Woodson 27-12.
In the JV1 game, Albany jumped out to a 15-2 lead in the first quarter and led 23-7 at halftime. The Lions upped the margin to 37-10 at the end of the third quarter.
Every Albany player scored in the win with Bryson Herring leading the way with 15 points, 11 in the second half. Lute Wheeler added 10 points, with Brayden Watson and Luke Marshall each scoring eight. Cole Read and Andrew Leverton each scored three points and Branson Beal had two.
Against Woodson, the JV2 team opened up an 8-2 lead in the first period and led 10-4 at halftime. Albany increased the margin to 20-9 in the third quarter.
Ashton Bailey led the Lions with 11 points, with Bam Becker scoring nine and Austin Sanchez seven.
