Loyal basketball coach recaps last games of season

Loyal boys basketball coach Brandon DeSmet provided some comments about his team’s last couple of games after they lost in the second round of playoffs.

The team played Independence Feb. 28 in the first round of playoffs and won 63-47.

“Our guys did a great job of starting the game really fast. You could see our confidence right from the start. Offensively, we moved the ball really well and found some great looks. Defensively, we played with great energy. Our on-ball defense was really good against some of their good guards they had,” said DeSmet.

“We were able to stretch the lead to 20 points at halftime, and from the second half on the game stayed right around 1420 points (gap between the teams) for the whole second half,” he added.

Senior Drew Stieglitz was the Greyhounds’ high scorer with 21 points.

After their first game, the Hounds knew their next opponent, Alma/Pepin, would present a challenge.

“Going into Friday, we know that we are going to have to compete against a bigger more physical team. Independence played from the perimeter and shot the ball from the outside a lot more than what Alma/ Pepin will. Alma/Pepin will have a couple really strong physical players that we are going to have work to keep from getting in the paint and hopefully prevent them from getting offensive rebounds,” DeSmet said prior to the March 3 game.

Unfortunately, Loyal came up eight points short.

“We lost a very competitive basketball game at Alma/Pepin 45 -37. The teams were never more than four points apart for the majority of the game.

“As a coaching staff, we are incredibly proud of how hard we played and the courage our players showed in such a competitive basketball game. Defensively, we were so good all night long, but offensively we just couldn’t get enough shots to fall as we came up just short.

“We would also like to thank all our parents and fans that made the long trip to Alma. It was awesome to see such a packed fan section for a game that was so far away.”

Stieglitz also led the team in scoring for that game, with 14 points.

The Greyhounds finished their season with an 11-14 overall record and 6-8 Eastern Cloverbelt Conference record.

All-conference basketball players named

Several local girls basketball players have received recognition on the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference All-Conference Team, among them (l-r) Avry Wuethrich and Tysen Lindner of Greenwood High School, and Autumn Davis of Spencer High School. Wuethrich was named to the second team, and Lindner and Davis received honorable mention.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS