Wolverines and Gators No Match for Patriot Boys
By: Baylee Settje, a freshman at Leigh High School
This past week, the boys’ Patriot basketball team had two back-to-back games against Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur (BRLD) and Wisner-Pilger. The Boys played the Wolverines in Bancroft on Monday, January 24th, and then went on to play the Gators at home in Clarkson on Tuesday, January 25th.
The Wolverines entered the game with a 4-10 record, and the Gators a 7-8 record. The Patriot boys knew going into these games, they were going to have to not play at the other teams’ levels and just play their game.
To begin the week, the Patriots battled against BRLD on Monday. The Patriots started off slow in the first quarter, but got all the momentum the last three quarters. The Patriots were knocking down their shots, playing good defense, and making great plays. All of this led to another win for the Patriot boys.
The score at the end of the game was 54-34 with the Patriots with the win.
Overall, senior Eli Hays led the team in points with 14. Close behind him was junior Kyle Kasik with 12 and junior Mason Whitmore with 10. Carter Hanel led the team in rebounds with 14 followed by Kasik with 7.
“We got off to a slow start, but our guys locked down and played great defense,” Head Coach Jeff Bachman said. “I was proud of our effort, and we picked up a good win on the road.”
The Patriots then went on to play Wisner-Pilger the very next day, wanting to get another win after their win against BRLD. The Patriots led the game the entire time. They outscored the Gators every quarter, which led to yet another win for the boys.
The score at the end of the game was 67-44.
Kasik had another great game, scoring 19 points, and junior Mason Whitmore and senior Jared Novotny both scored 14 points.
Mitch Beeson, a senior, was asked how the Wisner-Pilger game went, and he said, “We played a great game. We came in wanting it more and came out with the win. This just proves that we deserve the seed we received for the conference tournament.”
These two wins bring the boys’ team record to 14-2, clinching them a #2 seed in the upcoming East Husker Conference tournament behind #1 undefeated Humphrey-Lindsay. The #2 seed earns them a first-round bye in the tournament.
Game Stats vs. BRLD:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Clarkson-Leigh 14 27 9 4 54
BRLD 13 5 5 11 34
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Dalton Zulkoski: 3, 1, 0, 1; Jarred Novotny: 7, 2, 2, 0; Mason Whitmore: 10, 3, 1, 0; Eli Hays: 14, 3, 1, 1; Kyle Kasik: 12, 7, 1, 1; Drew Beeson: 3, 2, 2, 0; Kanyon Held: 2, 0, 0, 0; Carter Hanel: 3, 14, 4, 0; Isaac Rodenburg: 0, 1, 0, 0; Logan Schroeder: 0, 0, 1, 1; Kyle Holmberg: 0, 0, 0, 2; Mitch Beeson: 0, 4, 0, 0
Game Stats vs. Wisner-Pilger:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Wisner-Pilger 7 17 12 8 44
Clarkson-Leigh 18 20 17 12 67
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Jarred Novotny: 14, 2, 2, 2; Mason Whitmore: 14, 5, 0, 1; Eli Hays: 4, 1, 4, 3; Kyle Kasik: 19, 9, 4, 0; Carter Hanel: 10, 9, 4, 0; Logan Schroeder: 2, 1, 0, 0; Kyle Holmberg: 0, 1, 0, 0; Mitch Beeson: 4, 2, 0, 1; Drew Beeson: 0, 1, 3, 0