Loyal suffers frustrating loss against Abby

By Harry Toufar After suffering a double-digit loss on Friday night, the Loyal Greyhounds traveled to Abbotsford for a non-conference matinee contest with the Falcons on Saturday afternoon. The first half was a tight-played ball game with the lead changing a number of times. With just over three minutes left in the half, Hunter Walter and Cain Toufar both scored, putting the Hounds up by eight points.

Then, unfortunately the Greyhounds went into self-destruct mode. It started with a baseline turnover. In their half of the court, an errant pass was intercepted and taken down for an easy layup. Then Abby stole the ball, resulting in another two easy points. Looking to right the ship, Loyal’s pass into the corner sailed out of bounds. Next time down the court, a pass into the lane was too high. On the following possession, the Greyhounds’ drive down the lane was met by traffic, resulting in a hurried shot. Abby finished the half with a 7-2 run. However, Loyal still held on to a 3-point lead, 32-29.

First half scoring had Bryce Deegan

See Loss, page 14 hitting for 12 points, including two 3-pointers. Toufar had eight points. Rhett Lamovec scored four. Walter had three points, as did Reed Stieglitz with a 3-pointer. Parker Smith rounded out the first half scoring with two points.

The opening of the second half saw Loyal rebounding from their struggles in the first. Toufar started the half with two baskets for a 6-point lead. After an Abby basket, Stieglitz drained his second 3-pointer. After another Falcon basket, Stieglitz scored again, pushing the lead back to eight points. Abby scored again, cutting lead to six. Stieglitz drained two free throws and Toufar scored a basket, giving the Hounds their biggest lead of the afternoon.

A mini deep freeze by Loyal allowed the Falcons to come within three points. Stieglitz made one of two free throws, upping the lead to four points. A3-pointer by Abby cut the lead to one with just under seven minutes remaining.

Toufar was fouled in the act of shooting and went to the line and calmly sank both free throws. An Abby basket cut the lead to two points before Toufar scored again, giving the Hounds a 4-point lead with under five minutes remaining. Abby scored and Walter made one of two free throws, giving his team a 3-point advantage. Abby then made a basket plus one, knotting the score at 50 with 3:10 remaining.

At 2:35, Abby took the lead with a basket. On the next Loyal trip down the court, Stieglitz tied it with a 2-pointer with 1:30 remaining. Two free throws put the Falcons up by two points. On their next time down the court, the Falcons called timeout with 50 seconds left. Another basket and a free throw gave the Falcons a 5-point advantage with little time left. Lamovec got the ball in the paint and scored with Abby committing a foul. He calmly went to the line and made the “and one” free throw.

Loyal took a timeout to talk strategy. After the athletes returned to play, Loyal fouled on Abby to get the ball back. The Falcon player made the first free throw, but missed the second one. Lamovec corralled the rebound, giving the Hounds some life. Loyal coach Brandon DeSmet called timeout to set up a potential tying 3-pointer. They got the ball into Deegan’s hands, but his shot came up short. With 0.3 seconds left, the Falcons were able to get the ball, giving Loyal no chance for a tie. This heartbreaking 58-55 loss was the third in a row for the Hounds. Two of those losses were by a combined five points.

Toufar led the Hounds in scoring, with 17 points while pulling down 16 rebounds. Stieglitz and Deegan joined Toufar in double digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Stieglitz had two 3-pointers and went three of four from the foul line. Six of Deegan’s points came via 3-point land. Lamovec (7), Walter (4), and Smith (2) rounded out the scoring. Loyal had a good night at the charity stripe, sinking nine of their 13 attempts.