The North Polk Comets streaked by Clear Lake in the second half and earned a State berth with a 52-43 victory in a Class 3A Substate championship game played in Ames Monday night, Feb. 27. Second ranked Clear Lake ended the season with a record of 22-2, while North Polk, number seven in the polls, takes a 19-5 record to Des Moines next week.
The Lions led 23-18 at the half, but North Polk’s shooting heated up and they outscored Clear Lake 15-7 in the third and 19-13 in the fourth quarter for the win. The Comets’ Reggie Postel was key to the victory. The junior scored just one point in the first half, but erupted for nine in the third quarter on three, three-point shots. His run continued in the fourth, scoring with 11 points with another three-pointer and six free throws.
“Tough game in the end — I thought we battled,” said Clear Lake Head Coach Jeremey Ainley. “This game is the toughest game you will ever play in — a substate final. In the end you have to make shots and we didn’t make enough. We let the physicality of the game take us out of what we wanted to do and got away from our game plan.”
Clear Lake’s outside shooting, which was a mainstay all season, was effectively shut down by the Comets. The Lions only scored one basket from behind the arc and that came in the final 30-seconds when Thomas Meyer put up a desperation shot. Meyer finished with a team-high 15-points.
The Lions started a bit slow, but got a spark from their bench when Dylan Litzel and Gavin Anderson came in and scored. Anderson gave the Lions their first lead with 1:30 remaining in the first, 10-9.
Clear Lake led by as many as six in the second quarter, helped by Litzel’s eight first-half points.
Travaughn Luyobya, one of four seniors on the team, had seven in the first half and finished with 11-points. The team leader did his best to keep his team in front with two field goals in the third which had them ahead, 28-27 with 22:22 to go in the period.
The Comets took the lead on a three-pointer from Postel with :25 seconds to go in the third and never relinquished it. A second trey from Postel as time expired in the quarter made it 33-30 North Polk.
The Lions were never closer than four-points in the final frame and as they were forced to foul down the stretch the Comets didn’t fail. They drained nine of 10 free throws in the final 1:07.
The Lion program says good-bye to four seniors: Travaughn Luyobya, Ben Loge, Branden Kuhlmeier and Trey Olthoff.
Olthoff came in late and scored Clear Lake’s final bucket in the game. Anderson contributed five-points and Loge had two.
“Thanks to our seniors. All we ask is that you leave the jersey in a better place and they have. They are champions. Our program is in a very healthy place because of their contributions. We have been to five straight Substate finals and we have an extremely successful culture that they came into and left to maintain. At the end of the day, it is still a great day to be a LION and I am very proud of our support from our community, fans and the players that represent this program — grades seven to 12 and in the past.”
