Loyal boys lose close one to Spencer

By Valorie Brecht The Loyal Greyhounds boys basketball team felt the sting of defeat after narrowly losing at home to the Spencer High School Rockets last Thursday night, but learned another lesson in resilience and playing your best despite how the game is going.

Loyal was stuck playing from behind for most of the game. After falling behind 10-2 early on, they stayed roughly 10 points behind for the rest of the first half, finishing the half trailing 26-16.

The second half began with more of the same, the Greyhounds trailing 30-20 four minutes into the half. However, they began to make their move. Aided by some easy free throws and some miscues by Spencer, the Greyhounds eventually tied the game at 35 with 7:19 remaining. They tied again at 42 with 4:25 to go. Finally, Cain Toufar got a steal which turned into a basket a minute later, sending Loyal ahead for the first time all night and causing their crowd to erupt in cheers.

From there, Loyal got ahead by as much as five points, 47-42.

“When we were able to get that 5-point lead we were doing a great job forcing turnovers, and finding layup opportunities and free throw opportunities,” wrote Loyal coach Brandon DeSmet in an email.

Loyal held on to the lead all the way until there were 50 seconds remaining. At that point, Spencer grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in for a basket to go up by one point. Loyal took over and was moving the ball around looking for a good shot, but couldn’t find anything. Eventually, the Greyhounds attempted a a shot but it was no good. Toufar grabbed the rebound and passed, but it was knocked away and ended up being a jump ball, with the arrow pointing to Spencer. Just as soon as the Rockets got the ball, Loyal fouled in an attempt to get the ball back. Spencer went to the other end of the court and missed the free throw. Loyal snagged the rebound and lobbed it down the court to Bryce Deegan, who was waiting in the corner. Before he could shoot, a timeout was called with four seconds left to play. After the break, Reed Stieglitz inbounded the ball to Deegan, who shot but it was off the mark. Loyal took the frustrating 48-47 loss, their fourth in a row.

DeSmet acknowledged a couple of factors that led to his team’s downfall.

“At times we were really good (at) rebounding, but in some crucial moments, we missed out on some important opportunities,” he wrote. “We had some really great looks, but unfortunately with basketball sometimes you have some off nights, and in our game with Spencer it was one of those off nights.

“I love our team’s work ethic and ability to not give up in a game where we struggled to shoot and fell behind early. It is a game that we will be able to learn from and hopefully use as some really good experience for the rest of our games this season.”

Scoring was as follows: Stieglitz 19, Toufar 12, Deegan 10, and Carson Prein 2.

Spencer’s performance Spencer coach Charles Jennings reflected on his team’s performance.

“We did not do well on rebounding. Loyal is a good rebounding team, so give them credit for that,” he said.

“Defensively we played well. We eliminated a lot of points in the paint and Loyal was forced to shoot from outside.

“I’m proud of my guys for coming back after being behind by five and still closing it. They showed perseverance. We’ve had a lot of close games, and it’s nice to come out on the winning side this time.”

Sam Bezlyk led the charge for the Rockets, racking up 25 points and going 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Weston Nieman had eight points, while Mathers McHone, Ben Felgner, and Breckin Miller each had five.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS