Chiefs can’t sneak past the Lakers to continue season

By Ginna Young

It was a tough match-up for the first round of Regional basketball playoffs, March 1, as Cornell’s boys squad headed to Turtle Lake. The Chiefs went in as the No. 15 seed in the bracket, while the Lakers sat in the No. 2 spot.

“Turtle Lake reached the Sectional finals last year, and they started five seniors to our zero,” said coach Steve Parker. “Their size, strength, quickness and experience outmatched my players. We committed too many turnovers and allowed too many offensive rebounds tonight.”

In spite of the Lakers opening a scoring barrage in the first half, the Chiefs fought back from a 16-point deficit early on to pull within six points, a few minutues before halftime.

“They answered with a 15-1 run to close out the half,” said Parker. “They had too many weapons to contain.”

The Chiefs went into the break, down by 20, and while they looked to make a dent in the score in the second half, the Lakers have deadly three-point shooters in their arsenal.

“We finished the game on a seven-minute scoring drought, which is hard to fathom, the way we played the second half of the season,” said Parker.

Cornell didn’t give up, but time ran out and Turtle Lake took the game, 92-44, to put an end to the Chiefs’ season.

The Chiefs had a balanced scoring attack, with juniors Dylan Bowe, Blake Anders and Dawson Munson, and freshman Bentley Spangler scoring 13, 11, 11 and 8 points, respectively. Anders and Bowe each had 3 assists, while junior Avery Turany came up with a steal and drew a charge, recording 1 point.

Munson knocked down three shots from beyond the arc on the night, with Bowe, Anders and Spangler each adding two long range shots.

“I am excited for next year, because we have several key varsity-level players coming back from injury and entering the program, who will give our returning veteran core help,” said Parker. “Factor in the returning JV players who work all summer to improve their game and the varsity team will have a new dynamic. The East Lakeland Conference title will be up for grabs next year, following the loss of all the star seniors on the other teams through graduation.”