The Clarkson/Leigh Boys Basketball Team is 0-3 in their last three games, falling 74-40 at Twin River last Thursday night, 70-29 at home to Lutheran High Northeast Monday night, and 61-39 at Wisner-Pilger Tuesday night.
The Titans led 13-11 after one, and outscored the Patriots 23-13 in the 2nd quarter to take a 36-24 lead into the locker room.
Twin River outscored Clarkson/Leigh 20-7 in the 3rd quarter to go up 56-31 at the end of three.
The Titans double up the Patriots 18-9 in the 4th quarter.
Jarred Novotny had 13 points while Daniel Beller totaled 10 points and 9 rebounds. Carter Hanel added 8 rebounds.
The Eagles went up 11-4 at the end of one before winning the 2nd quarter 19-11 to take a 30-15 lead into the locker room.
LHNE outscored Clarkson/Leigh 19-5 in the 3rd quarter to lead 49-20 at the end of three.
The Eagles outscored the Patriots 21-9 in the 4th quarter.
Tommy McEvoy had a team-high 8 points while Beller pulled down 7 rebounds.
The Gators led the Patriots 14-12 after one before winning the 2nd quarter 12-8 to take a 26-20 lead into the locker room.
Wisner-Pilger opened things up in the 3rd quarter, outscoring Clarkson/Leigh 24-11 to go up 50-31 at the end of three.
The Gators won the 4th quarter 11-8.
Beller led the way with 17 points and 13 rebounds, good enough for a double-double. Novotny and Isaak Wiese each had 7 points while McEvoy pulled down 8 rebounds.
I thought it was a better effort by the Patriots against the Gators. The Twin River and Lutheran High Northeast games didn't go quite the way Clarkson/Leigh wanted to say the least.
The Patriots (4-10) take on Howells-Dodge (12-4) in the first round of the East Husker Conference Tournament at Howells-Dodge on Saturday.
The rival Jaguars routed Tekamah-Herman 69-30 at home Monday night.
Howells-Dodge beat Clarkson/Leigh 71-38 in Clarkson on December 15th, a game that was close at halftime.
I think the Patriots are capable of playing and keep things close with the Jaguars, but Clarkson/Leigh has to play four good quarters of basketball.
The Patriots need better offensive play from all of their stars, and McEvoy has to step up even more than he already has.
Clarkson/Leigh has to find a way to get things done on the defensive end as well.
Howells-Dodge is a potent offensive ball club, and beating them on their home floor in a tournament like setting doesn't figure to be easy.
It's the conference tournament though and anything can happen.
The Patriots have to go out there and play their hearts out and give it all they got.
Clarkson/Leigh has to play fearless and with aggression and with a belief that they can beat the Jaguars.
The Patriots have to take advantage of the fact they've had more preparation time for Howells-Dodge than the Jaguars will have had for them since Howells-Dodge was in action against Logan View/Scribner-Snyder Thursday night.
Clarkson/Leigh has to step up their game and get back to playing the way they did against Pender last Saturday.
The Patriots have already done a lot of nice things this season and have closed the gap with some of these teams I feel, and have a fairly favorable schedule to end the regular season.
So I feel there's so much left out there for Clarkson/Leigh to accomplish yet this season, and it would be too bad to see the Patriots miss out on some wins I know they can get.
Clarkson/Leigh definitely wants to beat Howells-Dodge, but should they lose they'll most likely have a chance to avenge their loss to Tekamah-Herman earlier this season in the consolation round next Friday.
Saturday's game will tip-off after the Wisner-Pilger/Pender game, which is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.
The Clarkson/Leigh Girls won 34-25 at Twin River last Thursday night before topping Lutheran High Northeast 61-47 at home Monday night, and Wisner-Pilger 40-30 on the road Tuesday night.
The Patriots led the Titans 8-6 at the end of one. Twin River won the 2nd quarter 10-6 to go up 16-14 at halftime.
Clarkson/Leigh quadrupled up the Titans 12-3 in the 3rd quarter to go up 26-19 at the end of three.
The Patriots won the 4th quarter 8-6.
Kaegan Held and Ashlynn Novotny totaled 11 points apiece while Hannah Kasik had 8.
Clarkson/Leigh jumped all over the Eagles 27-8 at the end of one. LHNE won the 2nd quarter 15-10 to make it a 37-23 game at halftime.
The Eagles won the 3rd quarter 12-11 to close the gap to 48-35 at the end of three.
The Patriots on the 4th quarter 13-12.
Held led the way with 16 points while Novotny and Kasik added 13 and 10, respectively.
Both the Gators and Patriots scored 11 points in the 1st quarter. Clarkson/Leigh outscored Wisner-Pilger 11-4 in the 2nd quarter to take a 22-15 lead into the locker room.
The Patriots outscored the Gators 14-5 in the 3rd quarter to go up 36-20 at the end of three.
Wisner-Pilger won the 4th quarter 10-4.
Kasik and Novotny each had 10 points while Held contributed 8.
Good wins for Clarkson/Leigh.
The Patriots (14-2) host Madison (2-16) in the first round of the East Husker Conference Tournament Friday night.
The Dragons lost 70-27 at home to North Bend Central Tuesday night.
Clarkson/Leigh beat Madison 49-22 at home on December 13th.
I don't expect Friday night's matchup to be much of a different result.
I feel the Patriots will be too much defensively and even offensively for the Dragons to handle.
Clarkson/Leigh could have a tough game on Monday against Stanton though.
The Mustangs have really come on lately and just beat BRLD by 5 on the road Saturday.
The Patriots also beat the Wolverines 52-49 in overtime at home earlier in the season so it should be a heck of a battle on Monday should the two teams meet.
Clarkson/Leigh can definitely do great things in this tournament, and beat anyone they play.
The Patriots already beat a top team in this tournament in Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family so they know they can do it.
Clarkson/Leigh has to get fired up for this tournament and take pride in the fact that it is the highest seed they've ever had and are hosting the first round.
The Patriots have to believe they can beat the Mustangs or any other tough teams they play in this tournament because they definitely can.
The potential game against Stanton would be huge from the standpoint of the two teams being in the same Sub-District.
Whoever wins would have a leg up heading into the post East Husker Conference regular season matchup, and then who knows what might happen if the two teams play in Sub-Districts.
This is when things really count, and Clarkson/Leigh has to come through in the clutch like they have all season and play their best basketball.
This tournament will only help prepare the Patriots for the postseason I feel as Clarkson/Leigh figures to see the same quality competition in Sub-Districts, and in a Sub-State game and the State Tournament if they make it that far.
First things first though, the Patriots have to beat the Dragons.
That game will tip-off after the Stanton/Wisner-Pilger game at 6:00 p.m.
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