Loyal wins big, loses big next night

By Valorie Brecht The Loyal boys floated to an easy win versus the Greenwood Indians last Thursday night only to fall to a frustrating loss to Columbus Catholic the night after.

By halfway through the first half of the Feb. 6 game at Greenwood, the Greyhounds had already gotten out to a 20-0 lead. It took until 6:26 remaining before Greenwood was able to score its first points, from a layup by Chad Oldham. With 3:39 left in the half, Greenwood broke through again, this time with Anton Livingston shooting three from near the top of the key. Greenwood’s Keagan Gipe also stole the ball with around two minutes left and beat everyone else to the basket for an easy layup.

Other than those few scoring opportunities, Loyal denied Greenwood many good looks and kept their opponent away from the basket. The score was 41-7 at halftime.

In the second half, Loyal continued to pour on the points. Loyal’s Hunter Walter scored off a fast break and Bryce Deegan added another two not much after. Then Cain Toufar hit a mid-range jump shot for Loyal to make the score 49-7. However, eventually Greenwood came alive a bit more. Gipe sunk a 3-pointer from the corner soon followed by Livingston putting in another three from up top.

In the end, Greenwood scored 10 more points in the second half while Loyal accumulated 29 more. That gave Loyal the 70-17 win.

Columbus Loyal’s game at Columbus on Friday would prove to be the complete reverse situation. The Greyhounds had defeated Columbus 57-39 in their first matchup this season Jan. 7, so they felt fairly confident based on that. However, the Dons hit hard right away this time and didn’t hold back.

Columbus scored 35 points in the first half compared to Loyal’s 10. The second half was not much better, with the Dons adding 28 points and Loyal mustering 12. That left the final score at 63-22 for the Dons’ win.

None of the Greyhounds were able to get in the double digits for scoring. Cain Toufar had the most points of any Greyhound with five. Other point totals were: Reed Stieglitz 4, Walter 4, Deegan 3, Aaron Radue 3, Carson Bremmer 2, and Rhett Lamovec 1.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO