Hornets upset by Loyal, fall 64-39
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby boys basketball suffered an upset defeat at the hands of the Cloverbelt-East rival Loyal squad last Friday evening. A dominant second half performance from the visiting Greyhounds dealt the Hornets their third conference loss of the season. After a competitive first half, Loyal outscored their hosts 37-15 in the second period to take the 64-39 victory.
After falling behind 6-2, Colby bounced back by scoring 12 straight points. Tucker Hayes started the scoring spree with a layup and Joseph Streveler and Jaxon Polivka combined to score the next ten points of the game. Streveler’s transition layup put the Hornets up 14-6 and forced the Greyhounds to call a timeout to regroup.
The stoppage seemed to have the intended effect, as Loyal connected on four three-pointers over their next five possessions, going up 18-17 on the final basket. Miguel Morillon answered with a layup to put his team back on top, but yet another three from the Greyhounds followed.
Adrian Lopez hit a three for the Hornets with 1:30 left in the half, but Loyal scored the final five points of the period to take a 26-24 lead into halftime.
A midrange jumper from Streveler tied the game at 28-28, but Loyal was the next to score as the Greyhounds’ Joseph Treffinger connected on a tough shot through contact and hit the following free throw to give the visitors the lead back. They never trailed following the play, as Loyal went on a 7-0 run to pull out to a 35-28 advantage.
The Hornets were able to pull back within four, but that was all the closer they would get in the contest. The offense would almost completely disappear for Colby in the final third of the game. They scored just five points over the final 12 minutes of the game and could do little to stop Loyal on the opposite end of the court. The Greyhounds finished the contest on a 24-5 run and cruised to the 63-39 victory to split the season series with Colby.
Streveler was the main source of offense for the Hornets, putting up 19 points on Friday. Hayes was second on the team with five points, Polivka and Landon Steinman both had four points, Lopez had three points and Morillon and Reed Fleischmann had two points each.
The game’s outcome had some significant impact on the top of the Cloverbelt-East. The loss dropped the defending conference champion Hornets even further behind current-leader Columbus Catholic (8-0) and second-place Neillsville (7-1) in the current standings. Now at 5-3, the Hornets will need at least some help from the other conference teams to surpass the Dons, who went through the first half of the conference schedule without taking a loss. They are now tied with Owen-Withee for third place, while the Greyhounds pulled within a game of that third spot at 4-4.
Colby will look to get back on track on Thursday, Jan. 25 when they travel to Gilman to take on the Pirates. In their last meeting, the Hornets made short work of their conference opponents, putting up 59 points in the first half before utilizing their bench for much of the second period. The game will begin at 7:15 p.m.
