Colby basketball
Continued from page 11 Luke Hannula to open the scoring in the second period gave his team a brief 30-27 lead. However, the Hornets could not extend their advantage beyond that.
A three from the Tigers on their next possession tied the game and while Colby managed to keep pace for the next few minutes, the offense would start to bog down just as Stratford’s found its stride.
A seven minute stretch over the middle minutes of the period shifted the game solidly in the visitors’ favor. Thanks in part to the suddenly hot three-point shooting of the Tigers, Stratford went on a 22 point scoring spree over this stretch. Meanwhile, the Hornets were held to just five points over this same timeframe. What was once a onepossession game suddenly turned into a 20-point deficit for the home team and Colby could not recover.
Tucker Hayes recorded a double-double performance as he led the Hornets in scoring and rebounds, finishing with 10 points and 11 boards. Hannula and Reed Fleischmann both had nine points each, the former bringing down five rebounds and the latter grabbing four. Miguel Morillon had six points, six rebounds and five assists, Kaiser had six points himself, and Landon Steinman finished with five points. Braiden Johnson and Izaac Carrera rounded out the scorers, putting up three and two points respectively.
Gilman, 73-56
The Hornets notched a season sweep of the Gilman Pirates by defeating their Cloverbelt-East foes 73-56 at home last Thursday. The Colby defense penned in the visitors over the first quarter of the contest, allowing them to build a significant lead that they maintained for the rest of the evening.
The Hornets dominated the boards, outrebounding Gilman 44-29, and shot an impressive 50 percent from the field, making 27 of their 54 field goal attempts. Meanwhile, they held their opponents to a shooting percentage of 35 percent.
Over the first eight minutes of Thursday night’s contest, the Pirates were stifled by a swarming defensive effort by Colby. Gilman managed just two points over this stretch, a lack of production that the Hornets took advantage of. A three from Landon Steinman put the home team up by double-digits at 13-2 after seven minutes of play and another three from Reed Fleischmann a few minutes later extended that lead out to 16.
Another Hornet three-point shot, this time from Braiden Johnson, gave Colby their biggest lead of the half at 25-6 with under six minutes to play. Gilman seemed to find their footing on offense over this final stretch but the Hornets still entered halftime with a 33-19 lead.
The Pirates hung around for the first half of the second, but a two-minute stretch midway through the period saw Colby outscore Gilman 10-3 to go up 60-38. This gave the Hornets the cushion they needed to cruise to their eventual 73-56 victory.
Eight Colby players scored in Thursday night’s win. Luke Hannula led the team with 16 points, shooting 6-for-12 from the field and adding seven rebounds. Fleischmann had a double-double, scoring 15 points while bringing down a team-high 12 rebounds. He also had three assists.
Tucker Hayes was extremely efficient for the Hornets on the offensive end of the court, going 5-for-6 on field goal attempts and recording 12 points. Johnson went 3for-5 from three-point range and came away with 11 points. Hayden Kaiser had eight points and Steinman put up five points and three assists.
Miguel Morillon led Colby with six assists and collected 10 rebounds while scoring four points and Izaac Carrera rounded out the scoring with two points.
SURROUNDED BY TIGERS - Landon Steinman looks to pass after drawing the defense into the paint.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
