Loyal boys see individual, collective wins on basketball court

By Valorie Brecht The Loyal Greyhounds defeated the Spencer Rockets in the Rockets’ recent game at Loyal, with specialization on the inside and the outside boosting the Greyhounds to a sizable win and players showing confidence in their various strengths, said their coach.

Last Thursday’s game opened with a Jacob Schill three, in what would become a common theme throughout the night. Schill made most, if not all, of the threes he attempted and finished the night with five of them.

Coach Brandon DeSmet said it was great to see Schill shine in his element and rack up some points in a hurry, with four of his 3-pointers coming in the first half.

“Jacob Schill shooting the 3-point basket is something he’s been able to do since he’s a freshman and he puts the time in, and you can see that on display tonight with the way he shot it. That’s something he’s always been able to do,” said DeSmet.

In between those threes from Schill were plenty of buckets from Bryce Deegan and Cain Toufar. Deegan scored the second and third baskets of the game, with the latter being a jumper from the paint. He scored 8 points, all 2-pointers, and wasn’t afraid to assert himself on the inside, said his coach.

“He was so good with the ball in his hands, just beating the guards oneon- one. And the thing is, it was too bad he hurt his ankle in the first half and he didn’t get to play the whole second half. But yeah, he did a great job and that’s something too he’s been working a lot, is beating guys off the dribble and working on his pull ups, and not having to always get to the rim and finishing right in the middle of the paint,” DeSmet said.

The fourth basket of the night came from Toufar, after he stole the ball and ran down for a layup, putting Loyal up 9-0. After that, Spencer’s Sam Bezlyk powered through for his own layup, getting his team on the board. But, it was slow going for Spencer. Over the next five minutes, Bezlyk got two more baskets, one just shy of a three, but the Hounds took off and scored 12 more points, while remaining dogged on defense. With the score 21-6, Spencer called a timeout with 8:34 left in the half.

After the break, Loyal earned 17 more points. The Rockets picked up steam and added 11 to their total, with baskets coming from Bezlyk, Noah Anderson (a 3-pointer) and Mathers McHone. By halftime, the score was 38-17 with Loyal in the lead.

Bezlyk got the second half started on a positive note for Spencer when he stole the ball about a minute in. He raced down the court and used a Euro step to get around a nearby defender and score. Next, Spencer’s Carter Luepke popped in a layup and Bezlyk got two more 2-pointers right in a row. Davide Chemello also snuck in a layup and turned it into a 3-point play. With 9 unanswered points by Spencer and the score now 38-28, it looked like the Rockets were well on their way to staging a comeback. In the meantime, Loyal missed a couple shots. “(In the second half) we came out a little passive in that we settled for the first three we saw, the first outside jumper,” said DeSmet. “Once we called a timeout and kind of gathered ourselves, we started getting to the paint more. And that’s where we were having so much success, was the post play, the guard touch and just getting it into the paint,” Loyal was able to rally the troops and get things going again with a 2-pointer by Hunter Walter at 12:40 on the clock. Then, Toufar picked up an offensive rebound and put it back in for another 2. Soon after that, Walter was fouled upon and missed his first, but sunk his second. Schill hit another three at 11 minutes remaining and the Greyhounds were well on their way to taking back control of the game. Over the remainder of the game, Loyal didn’t let up on the gas pedal and scored 25 more points. To the Rockets’ credit, they didn’t throw in the towel either and accumulated 18 more. But in the end it was not enough to overcome their deficit and the Greyhounds won 71-46. Top scorers for the Hounds were Schill with 15, Reed Stieglitz with 14 and Toufar with 14. Stieglitz stepped up in the second half when Deegan was out and scored 11 points then, including a 3-pointer and two free throws. Toufar scored the majority of his points – 10 – in the first half and went fourfor-five from the free throw line. The next highest scorer for Loyal was Walter with 10, who had a strong performance on both ends of the court, his coach said.

“We’ve always known that he has the ability to rebound and now he’s starting to get more and more game reps and it’s starting to show, like tonight. And he’s been doing a really good job of not only getting that rebound, but finishing. He had an and-one tonight, a couple and-ones the other night – but you can see his energy; he plays really hard. And a lot of times rebounding is energy. He’s got great effort,” said DeSmet.

Other scorers for Loyal were Rhett Lamovec with 4, Isaac Jakobi with 3, Carson Bremmer with 2 and Aaron Radue with 1.

“They played really hard and I really appreciate all their effort,” said DeSmet.

On the Spencer side, Bezlyk led the way in scoring with a double-digit total of 20 points. Anderson scored 9, all from 3-pointers. McHone had 5, Luepke had 4, Davide Chemello had 3, Breckin Miller had 3 and Drake Johnson had 2.

Rhett Lamovec slides in for a 2-point shot in the team’s game against Spencer held at home Jan. 25. Lamovec scored 4 points during the game.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO

Greenwood boys fall to Owen-Withee

The Greenwood boys lost 73-28 to Owen-Withee while at home on Jan. 25. The team’s top scorers included Keagan Gipe (left) who scored 15 points and Cody Eckes (right) who added 5. Above, Nicholas Vetterkind weaves through Owen-Withee defenders.

CHEYENNE THOMAS/ STAFF PHOTOS