Loyal boys show scrappiness against Columbus
In the movie “The Replacements,” the reporter asks the head coach, played by Gene Hackman, what it would take for his team to get back into the game. His answer was one word: heart. The Loyal Greyhounds arguably played with a lot of heart Friday night as they took on the Columbus Catholic Dons, the number-one ranked team in Division 5, at home. Although they did not walk away with the win, the Greyhounds went toe to toe with the Dons from the opening tip to the final buzzer, not to be intimidated by their opponent.
The first six minutes saw both teams playing deliberately as they looked for good shots. At the 12:42 mark, Loyal trailed 10-4. The Hounds matched the Dons point for point for the next five minutes. Just before the half, they trailed by only 2 points, 27-25. The Dons responded by pushing their lead to 5 points going into the locker room. Seven Greyhounds contributed in the scoring column. The five starters – seniors Jacob Schill and Isaac Jakobi and sophomores Cain Toufar, Reed Stieglitz and Bryce Deegan – accounted for 20 of the Greyhounds’ 27 points. Hunter Walter (5 points) and Rhett Lamovec (2 points) rounded out the scoring.
The start of the second half saw the Dons go on a 9-0 run to pad their lead to 14 points. The Dons showed why they are ranked number one as they did what they do best: they controlled the half by hitting timely 3-pointers, playing strong defense and scoring on opportunistic fast breaks.
Columbus put three players in double figures, led by Blake Jakobi’s 20 points. He also hit the milestone of 1,000 career points by hitting a free throw with 14 seconds left. The Columbus Dons were not to be denied their 18th win of the season, finishing with a score of 59-44.
However, the Greyhounds made the Dons work for every point. The Hounds cut down their turnover count to under 10. Personal fouls were at a minimum.
Toufar led the way for Loyal with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Stieglitz added 8 points, including two threes. Walter put in 7 points with five rebounds. Schill hit two 3-pointers for 6 points. Deegan added 6 points. Isaac Jakobi and Landyn Johnston each had 3 points. Rhett Lamovec rounded out the scoring with 2 points. Scoring 3-pointers for the Greyhounds were: Schill with two, Stieglitz with two and Johnston with one.
