Patriot Boys Pick Up First Win
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy: Kennedy Settje, a junior at Leigh High School
The boys’ basketball season kicked off on Friday, December 4th against the Humphrey-Lindsay Holy Family Bulldogs at Humphrey. Knowing that the Bulldogs have a very solid team, the Patriots knew they had to be well prepared to come out with the win.
The first quarter was full of intensity for both teams. A battle on both sides of the court resulted in a close first quarter with only a 6-point deficit for the Patriots. The end of the first quarter ended with a score of 9-15.
After the first quarter the Patriots fell into a bit of a slump. They couldn’t get much flow on offense, as they only scored 1 point that quarter. Their defense wasn't able to slow down the Bulldogs on the other end either. They went off on a 25-point quarter before the halftime buzzer sounded.
Coming out of halftime, Clarkson-Leigh knew they had some points to make up. As much as they battled in the 3rd and 4th quarters, it wasn’t enough to climb out of the hole they put themselves in. The game ended with a score of 22-61.
Head coach, Jeff Bachman said, “I was pleased with our effort and how we took care of the ball, but we have to do a better job of scoring and shooting to hang with a great team like that. This will be a learning experience for us, and we will get better from it.”
But the very next day, the Patriot boys were back in action. Hopeful to get their first win of the season, the Clarkson-Leigh Patriots hosted their first home game against the Madison Dragons.
Starting off the game a step slow, the Dragons took advantage. They ran with the momentum and grabbed a quick first quarter lead of 13-5. After settling in, the Patriots took some of the momentum they held the Dragons to only 7 points.
Going into halftime, the score read 13-20.
After a quick halftime talk, the Patriots were ready to make a comeback. They rattled off 18 points in the third quarter to get the lead back. They didn’t let go of any of their third quarter momentum in the fourth quarter, as they secured the win, 42-34.
Sophomore Kyle Kasik said, “We started off a little slow, but with a strong push at the start of the 3rd quarter, we ended up on top. When we can figure out how to play a game with no slumps, we’ll be a dangerous team.”
Against the Dragons, Carter Hanel led the team with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Eli Hays also added 10 points, and Kasik was tough on defense with 5 steals.
The varsity boys winning the Madison game made for a night full of wins at all levels (girls JV, boys JV, girls varsity, and boys varsity) in the very first night of games in the new Leigh gym!
Stats for the boys’ opening games are as follows:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
HLHF 15 25 12 9 61
Clarkson/Leigh 9 1 9 3 22
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Eli Hays: 8, 6, 2, 2; Kyle Kasik: 3, 4, 2, 0; Jacob Eisenmann : 0, 2, 0, 0; Mason Whitmore: 3, 6, 1, 0; Trevor Zulkoski: 2, 5, 1, 1; Carter Hanel: 2, 10, 0, 1; Logan Schroeder: 2, 1, 0, 2; Mitch Beeson: 2, 2, 1, 0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Madison 13 7 4 10 34
Clarkson/Leigh 5 8 18 11 42
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Eli Hays: 10, 3, 4, 1; Kyle Kasik: 0, 7, 4, 5; Mason Whitmore: 9, 2, 1, 1; Trevor Zulkoski: 4, 1, 1, 3; Carter Hanel: 13, 13, 2, 3; Logan Schroeder: 2, 3, 1, 0; Mitch Beeson: 4, 2, 1, 0