Lions still in hunt for NCC title

The Clear Lake boys (12-6) played one of their best and one of their worst games of the season within days.  The Lions took back sole possession of first place in the North Central Conference boys basketball race with a 59-56 win over Algona Tuesday, then were upset on their home court by Humboldt Friday night.  The Lions are still in the hunt for a conference title with a 10-2 NCC record, but they will need to do it on the road this week.

CL 59, Algona 56

“A great game against a great opponent” was the way Coach Jeremy Ainley described Tuesday’s contest with Algona (15-3, 9-2).  The Lions finished strong in the second and fourth quarters to notch a 59-56 victory.

The teams traded the lead throughout the contest, with the Lions outscoring the Bulldogs 17-7 in the second quarter to lead 32-25 a the half.  They topped the Bulldogs 16-12 in the final quarter to pick up the three-point win.

Tamarik Lee had 16 points and nine rebounds and Brock Adams added 15 to lead Clear Lake.  The team was helped by 6/6 free throw shooting by Devin Uhlenhopp in the game’s final two minutes. 

“Offensively, to turn the ball over only two times as a team is unbelievable and will put you in a position to win a lot,” said Coach Ainley.  “As a team we played great team defense in limiting them in the half court.  We were able to create some turnovers in the full court, but needed stops in the half court and rebounded well.  We gave them a chance in the end with some poor free throw shooting but it was nice to hold them off and continue to lead the conference.”

As a team, the Lions made just 11 of 22 free throw attempts.  Matt Stephany joined Uhlenhopp as perfect from the line.  He sunk two attempts and finished with eight points in the game. 

Parker Truesdell scored seven points, Justin Sholly had five and Tanner Storbeck scored two for the Lions.

Humboldt 75, CL 64

Cold shooting made a win hard to come by Friday night for the Lions.  Humboldt (12-5, 9-3) picked up an NCC win, 75-64.

“As a team we had one of our worst nights shooting the ball on a night when we needed to shoot it well,” said Coach Jeremy Ainley.  “Humboldt is a great team with a couple of great players and we just didn’t make enough shots.  We did some good things, but not enough to overcome some bad shooting.”

As a team, the Lions shot just 33 percent from the field.

Matt Stephany was the exception to the Lions shooting woes.  The senior had a great game with 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.  Brock Adams also shot it well with 16 points.  Devin Uhlenhopp and Jake Hogan had nine and seven points respectively.  The remainder of the scoring came from Parker Truesdell with six, Tanner Storbeck five points and Tamarik Lee three.

“Overall, it hurts in the standings and makes things tougher to win the conference as we have to go on the road to accomplish it, but we will be ready for the challenge,” said Ainley.

The Lions were scheduled to play at Webster City (11-6, 7-4) Tuesday, Feb. 10 and will wrap-up the regular season Thursday, Feb. 12, with a rematch at Algona (15-3, 9-2).

The post-season will begin Monday, Feb. 16, when the Lions will take on Lake Mills (16-3) in a 6:30 p.m. game at Garner.