by Marianne Gasaway
Humboldt handed the Lions their first loss of the season in a hard-fought North Central Conference game played Friday. The Wildcats (7-2) and Lions (8-1) now each have one loss in the league, while Webster City is on top of the standings with a 4-0 record. In rankings released Monday, Jan. 16, by the Iowa High School Athletic Association, Webster City was ranked fifth in Class 3A, followed by the Lions sixth.
CL 67, Nevada 50
With two big conference games looming, the Lions played a good match up on the road Tuesday, Jan. 10, against Nevada. They earned a 67-50 non-conference victory.
“I thought we came out and really got after them defensively to make them uncomfortable. We attacked the basket and moved the ball well to get some great looks at the rim,” said Coach Jeremey Ainley. “Other than some defensive miscues in the third quarter and allowing them to get back into the game, we played pretty clean overall.
The Lions broke out to a 21-11 first quarter lead before the Cubs could get their footing and play a more even second period. At halftime, the Lions were in the lead, 30-23.
Nevada continued to gain on the Lions in the third quarter, but in the fourth Clear Lake buckled down and went on a 24-6 run to take a commanding lead.
Coach Ainley praised senior Travaughn Luyobya for a great game offensively with 22-points and 11 assists, but also acknowledged he got his team going with his defensive play in the fourth quarter.
“Travaughn did a really nice job limiting their best player to two-points and made him take some tough shots.”
Thomas Meyer controlled the paint and took over with 21 points and 12 rebounds. The sophomore also made four steals.
Cael Stephany and Titan Schmitt scored eight and seven points respectively, followed by Ben Loge with five and Gavin Anderson and Dylan Litzel with two apiece.
Humboldt 85, CL 80
The Lions might refer to their road game at Humboldt as ‘the one that got away.’ The Wildcats held off charges by the Lions for an 85-80 victory Friday.
“It was a big conference match up and overall, a fun game to watch— probably not much if you were coaching it with all the twists and turns,” chided Coach Ainley. “At end of the day, we didn’t play our best defensively and had way too many possessions we would like to have back as coaches and players.”
The two teams were nearly even in the number of shots they attempted, with Clear Lake making 33 of 64 and the Wildcats 33 of 59. Humboldt connected on 13 of 27 three-point attempts, while the Lions were 11 for 26. In total, the difference was just enough, as the Wildcats finished with 67 percent effective shooting, while the Lions were at 60.
Humboldt jumped out to a 21-15 first quarter lead, but the Lions trimmed the deficit to just four points, 46-42, by the break.
“We battled through foul trouble early and had some guys step up to give us a chance,” said Ainley. “We shot it really well, but unfortunately they shot it better and we lost one we feel like we had a great chance at.”
Travaughn Luyobya continued to shoot the ball extremely well and had 28-points to lead his team. The senior also dished out six assists. Titan Schmitt finished with 15-points and Gavin Anderson came off the bench to contribute 11. Balanced scoring continued with Cael Stephany and Thomas Meyer each putting in nine-points. Reserve Dylan Litzel drained all four shots he took for eight-points.
Meyer was the leader on the boards with nine rebounds.
