The Clarkson/Leigh Boys Basketball Team lost 56-39 at Pender last Thursday night in a game that was aired on 107.9 the Bull before losing 53-42 at Howells-Dodge on Saturday, and 72-26 at Yutan Tuesday night.
The Pender game was close early, with Pender holding a 27-25 advantage at intermission.
The Pendragons outscored Clarkson/Leigh 16-5 in the third quarter, and eventually pulled away for the win.
Anthony Bruhn scored 12 points for Clarkson/Leigh, going along with 11 points and 14 rebounds from Daniel Beller.
The Patriots led the Jaguars 10-9 after one. Howells-Dodge won the 2nd quarter 12-10 to take a 21-20 lead into the locker room.
The Jaguars created some breathing room in the 3rd quarter, outscoring the Patriots 18-10 to lead 39-30 at the end of three.
Howells-Dodge notched 14 points in the 4th quarter compared to 12 for Clarkson/Leigh.
Beller had 13 points and 14 rebounds, good enough for a double-double. Bruhn added 13 points while Haden Held scored 9. Jacob Gall chipped in 7 rebounds.
The Chieftains jumped on the Patriots 22-12 at the end of one. Yutan outscored Clarkson/Leigh 22-6 in the 2nd quarter to take a 44-18 lead into the locker room.
The Chieftains scored 17 3rd quarter points and held the Patriots to 3 to lead 61-21 at the end of three.
Yutan won the 4th quarter 11-5.
Bruhn had a team-high 10 points for Clarkson/Leigh.
I thought the Patriots played well against Pender and Howells-Dodge for a half. Clarkson/Leigh just hasn't been able to put things together for 4 quarters yet.
The Patriots (0-8) take part in the Shelby-Rising City Holiday Tournament next week.
I'm not sure who Clarkson/Leigh plays first, but hopefully having the rest of the week to practice up until Saturday gets the Patriots ready for this tournament.
The 5-day moratorium hits on Saturday and so Clarkson/Leigh will have to go 5 days without playing in their gym, having contact with coaches, and having organized team practices.
The Patriots should enjoy the time off with their families, but if possible should try and get to a gym and shoot on their own.
Doing individual workouts and drills during the moratorium if possible could really benefit Clarkson/Leigh in this Holiday Tournament.
The Patriots really struggled Tuesday night, but Yutan is a great team.
I think losing to the Chieftains the way they did kind of gives Clarkson/Leigh an idea of what it's going to take to be a great team.
The Patriots have a lot of work to do to get to the top, but perhaps Clarkson/Leigh will come out and play well next Thursday and Friday.
Bruhn, Beller, Held, Gall, and Garrett Schroeder all need to step up and play well for the Patriots.
Clarkson/Leigh also has to play solid defense to go along with a good offense.
The Patriots can't get outhustled, outworked, and outplayed.
I feel like Clarkson/Leigh has been right there. Has made strides, and has done some good, positive things to this point in the season despite having zero wins.
The Patriots just have to find a way to play a complete game, and once they do that and get the monkey off their back, they should be more of a team to be reckoned with than they are now.
Losing the way Clarkson/Leigh did to Yutan definitely doesn't help momentum heading into the Holiday Break, but hopefully the Patriots are able to forget about it and regroup by game time next week.
Clarkson/Leigh is capable of doing well in this tournament, they just have to go out and execute at a high level on the offensive end, and control the boards, pressure the ball tightly, create steals on defense, and get out in transition, find good shots, and get to and convert at the free throw line offensively.
There are a lot of capable players on this team, they just have to go out and play inspired, great, and with a spark.
The Clarkson/Leigh Girls Basketball Team won 44-30 at Pender last Thursday night in action heard on 107.9 the Bull before falling 33-31 at Howells-Dodge on Saturday, and winning 42-40 at Yutan Tuesday night.
Clarkson/Leigh led the Pendragons 22-12 at halftime.
Kaegan Held led the Patriots in scoring with 15 points while Sara McEvoy and Ashlynn Novotny totaled 8 and 7, respectively.
"We started out slow. That's two games in a row we started out slow here, and we cranked up the defense," Clarkson/Leigh head coach Matt Murren said. "We're a team that relies on our defense in getting us into transition. We kinda cranked that up there and got us going, and ran those 12 off in a row that were big for us to take the lead and never look back."
Murren on his team's play. "The kids are really working hard right now. I'm proud of their effort. There's things that we they need to fix and things that we're going to work on. But if we had that all figured out the early part of season I don't know what we'd do. So it's good, the kids are working hard."
Howells-Dodge doubled up the Patriots 8-4 in the 1st quarter. The Jaguars outscored Clarkson/Leigh 11-6 in the 2nd quarter to go up 19-10 at halftime.
The Patriots won the 3rd quarter 11-8 to make it a 27-21 game at the end of three.
Clarkson/Leigh notched 10 points in the 4th quarter compared to 6 for Howells-Dodge.
Held had a team-high 11 points for the Patriots.
The Chieftains got out to a 10-9 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Yutan won the 2nd quarter 13-10 to take a 23-19 lead into the locker room.
The Patriots outscored the Chieftains 14-9 in the 3rd quarter to pull in front 33-32 at the end of three.
Clarkson/Leigh was a point better than Yutan in the 4th quarter, putting up 9 points compared to 8 for the Chieftains.
Held led the way with 15 points while Kim Stodola and Halee Steffensmeier registered 9 each.
Great effort by the Patriots in all 3 games. Tough loss to the Jaguars, but taking two of three from those 3 teams is a job well done in my book.
Clarkson/Leigh (6-3) is off until next week when they take part in the Shelby-Rising City Holiday Tournament.
I'm not sure who is all in this tournament or who the Patriots play, but I think Clarkson/Leigh probably has a good shot to win this tournament.
The Patriots are a solid team that have progressed in the early season, and gotten better throughout the course of the season.
Clarkson/Leigh is winning close games with their defense, and has won some games by a large margin as well.
If the Patriots keep playing defense the way they have they can beat anyone they play, in my opinion.
Clarkson/Leigh can't do enough shooting to improve their scoring though.
Even though the Patriots can't play in their own gym, or have any organized team practices or contact with coaches for 5 days during the Moratorium, which starts on Saturday, Clarkson/Leigh should get in a gym and shoot on their own if at all possible.
Perhaps the players will take it upon themselves to work on the offensive plays and sets on their own without any structure from coaches of course.
The Patriots definitely need to rest and enjoy time with family too, but getting into a gym of some sort is important for Clarkson/Leigh.
I think the practice time the Patriots have had this week after Tuesday night's game will help Clarkson/Leigh be sharp for the Holiday Tournament.
The Holiday Tournament is a tremendous opportunity for the Patriots to go out and play well and show what they are made of and all about, in my opinion.
It's also a nice break from playing East Husker Conference Teams I would say.
Clarkson/Leigh needs to play well with a tough schedule after the Holiday Break.
The Patriots have a few tough games in a row coming up in mid-January so we'll see how Clarkson/Leigh handles that.
There's a lot to work on and build up for in the near future though with the Holiday Tournament coming up next Thursday and Friday.
The Patriots have to keep building and improving, and continue to establish themselves as a top tier team in the area and East Husker Conference.
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