Colby basketball splits pair of Cloverbelt contests
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby Hornets boys basketball team went 1-1 over the past week, facing off against conference foes Loyal and Gilman in back-to-back Cloverbelt-East matchups. The Hornets squad fell to Loyal at home 61-52 before bouncing back to notch their first win of the season by defeating Gilman 67-50.
Gilman, 67-50
Miguel Morillon put up 18 points, Reed Fleischmann added another 15 and Colby went on the road to best the Gilman Pirates last Friday night.
The Hornets shot 43.3 percent from the field, making 26 of their 60 field goals, their best mark so far this season. Colby also sank over half of their shots from inside the three point line in their first win of the 2024-25 campaign.
Fleischmann started the scoring, turning a steal into a fast-break bucket to get the Hornets on the board. Morillon added a short basket off the glass a few possessions later to put Colby up 4-0 and the visitors never trailed the rest of the way.
A four minute scoring drought for the Hornets allowed Gilman to tie the game at 11-11, but a fast break layup from Morillon broke the tie and allowed Colby to maintain their advantage. A three from Braiden Johnson kept the visitors ahead after Gilman knotted the game again at 13-13 and while the Pirates were able to keep things close for most of the half, a strong run for the Hornets in the final four minutes of the period gave them some breathing room over their hosts.
Johnson hit two more baskets, Fleischmann worked his way to the basket for another score and Morillon scored four points in the final 30 seconds, including a buzzerbeating mid-range jumper, as Colby outscored the Pirates 11-5 down the stretch to hold a 31-22 lead heading into the locker rooms.
Gilman had that lead down to five over the first few possessions of the second half, but Colby answered with a run that would give them full control over the contest. The Hornets got baskets from Luke Hannula, Tucker Hayes and Fleischmann on consecutive possessions to quickly take their advantage back. The scoring didn’t stop there, as defensive pressure from Hannula and Morillon turned into four more points and Fleischmann ended the run with an exclamation point, hitting a three-pointer to put Colby up 46-28 with 12 minutes left to play.
The 13-0 run was the difference maker for the Hornets. While Gilman had refused to go away for much of the first half, Colby was able to keep the Pirates at bay following the dominant streak of play, maintaining a double- digit margain the rest of the way.
While the Hornets were able to walk out of the contest with a comfortable lead, thanks to solid shooting from the field and defense, they once again struggled from the free throw line. Colby has yet to finish a game shooting over 50 percent from the charity stripe, going 10-for-24 on free throw attempts in the win over Gilman.
Morillon shot 7-for-14 from the field and collected seven rebounds and two assists. Fleischmann was similarly 6-for-14 on field goals and made three of his eight shots from beyond the arc while recording a team high five steals and bringing down six rebounds.
Johnson and Colton Orth both had nine points each, Hayes led the team with 10 rebounds and had eight points after going 4for-4 from the field and Hannula had a team high four assists and added six points and seven rebounds.
Devon Meyer and Rolyn Hopperdietzel both ended the game with a made free throw and Hayden Kaiser had six rebounds.
Loyal, 61-52
Colby went toe-to-toe with the Greyhounds last Tuesday, but a 41-point second half performance for the visitors allowed the seventh-ranked Loyal squad to pull away late.
The Hornets were able to hold their conference rivals in check for the first 18 minutes of the contest, their defensive efforts in the first half making it difficult for the Greyhounds to find any sort of flow while looking to score.
A slow start for both offenses saw the two Cloverbelt-East squads tied at 8-8 halfway through the opening period. A steal from Orth resulted in a basket for Morillon on the opposite end and gave Colby the lead. The Hornet senior went on to score the next nine points for Colby, helping them keep pace with the Greyhounds. Morillon’s streak ended with a three-pointer that gave the home team a 17-12 advantage, but Loyal scored five points to knot the game up once again.
A pair of free throws courtesy of Kaiser broke that tie in favor of the Hornets with two-and-a-half minutes left in the half. Colby outscored Loyal 9-3 to close out the period, getting baskets from Fleischmann, Orth and Landon Steinmann to help them take a 26-20 lead into the second half.
A three from Steinman two minutes into the latter period put Colby up 32-24, their largest lead of the contest. Unfortunately for the Hornets, the Loyal offense finally seemed to find itself following that three-pointer. The Greyhounds outscored the home team 12-3 over the next four minutes, taking their first lead since the early moments of the first half on a three-pointer by Bryce Deegan.
Baskets from Fleischmann kept the Hornets within a possession over the middle minutes of the half, but Loyal slowly built out a lead that would not be able to be challenged in the closing stages of the contest. While Colby was able to keep things relatively close, the Greyhounds always seemed to have an answer, never allowing the Hornets to get on a run that would swing momentum back in their favor.
Three Colby players finished the game with over 10 points. Steinman led the way with 15 points and Morillon and Fleischmann had 13 points each. Steinman led the team with two threes, Morillon had a teamhigh four assists and three steals and Fleischmann picked up six rebounds. Hayes also had six rebounds, two blocks and added six points, Orth finished with three points and Kaiser had two points. Hannula finished the game with three steals.
The Hornets will be back in action on Thursday, Dec. 19 when they go on the road to take on Spencer. The Rockets are 3-2 this season and are coming off a 62-60 loss to Loyal. Sam Bezlyk leads Spencer in three key statistics, averaging 24.4 points, 13.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. The game between two Cloverbelt-East squads will start at 7:15 p.m.
