Hornets cruise past Gilman, lose on road to Stratford
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby Hornets boys basketball team went 1-1 over the past week while starting off a three-game road trip. They succinctly defeated the Gilman Pirates last Thursday before running into a hot-shooting Stratford Tigers team on Friday evening.
Stratford, 82-50
A barrage of threes pushed the Stratford Tigers over Colby last Friday evening when the Hornets took on their Marawood-South foes. The hosting Tigers pulled away early with an impressive showing of long-range shooting and Colby could never recover, eventually falling 82-50.
Stratford jumped out to a 12-0 lead, connecting on four shots from beyond the threepoint line before the Hornets got themselves on the board. Seven of the Tigers’ first eight baskets were threes and, while their accuracy from outside the arc waned as the half progressed, they still connected on nine such shots over the course of the first half.
Reed Fleischmann and Adrian Lopez kept the Hornets from falling too far behind, combining to put up 22 of Colby’s 29 first half points. While they were able to relatively keep pace with the Tigers after the initial blow, Colby could not pull back within single digits.
The Tigers’ opened the second half with a trio of threes on consecutive possessions to pull out to a 52-29 advantage. Fleischmann answered with a three of his own, but another three baskets from beyond the arc from Stratford helped the home team pull away further. The Tigers went on a 20-5 run to open the second period, a stretch that solidified their hold over the contest.
Jaxon Polivka led the Hornets’ offensive efforts over the final 10 minutes of the game, putting up seven of his 12 points over the stretch.
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Fleischmann finished with 15 points, shooting 4-for-7 from three-point range and collecting five rebounds. Lopez ended the game with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, Polivka had 12 points, and Miguel Morrilon finished with four points and four assists. Luke Hannula, Gavin Voss and Joseph Streveler all had two points for the Hornets and Streveler added a team high seven assists.
Gilman, 68-31
Two big runs in the first period allowed the Hornets to build a solid lead and cruise to a 68-31 road victory over Gilman last Thursday. Colby took control as the Pirate’s offense faltered down the stretch of the first half and the Hornets completed the season sweep of their Cloverbelt-East foes.
Adrian Lopez put up 15 points in the opening 18 minutes and Joseph Streveler added 12 points of his own to help Colby open up a 29-point lead by halftime. After briefly falling behind 7-6, the Hornets went on a 13-0 run to take a double digit advantage.
Lopez got things started for Colby with an old-fashioned three-point play, fighting through contact on a layup and hitting the following free throw to put his team back on top. Jaxon Polivka turned a steal into an easy two points on the opposite end of the court and Lopez connected on a corner three on the Hornets’ next possession to widen the gap. Reed Fleischmann added a three of his own and Tucker Hayes turned an offensive rebound into a basket to give Colby a 19-7 advantage.
The Hornets would then score 17 straight points over the final five minutes of the half to take complete control over the contest. Lopez, Streveler, Polivka, Fleischmann and Hayes all continued to put up points and Gavin Voss and Miguel Morillon also got in on the action as Colby got points from up and down its lineup to pull away from the Pirates. Gilman finally cut the streak short with a basket to end the half, but the Hornets’ command over the game had long since been established.
The senior pair of Streveler and Lopez combined to score 15 of the Hornets first 17 points of the second half, going up 62-20 before the visitors turned to their bench to finish out the contest Lopez and Streveler both ended the game with 21 points. Streveler also had a team high eight rebounds and six assists and Lopez added seven rebounds and five assists. Fleischmann, Polivka and Hayes all had six points in the win, with Fleischmann also bringing down eight boards and dishing out five assists and Polivka recording four steals. Morillon had four points and four assists and Voss ended the game with four points as well.
The Hornets are now 7-9 overall and 6-3 in the Cloverbelt-East conference. They will be back in action this coming Friday, Feb. 2, when they face off against the Greenwood Indians at home. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.