Loogootee Jr-Sr High School

The Varsity boys basketball team had a successful weekend on the hardwood. They traveled to Washington on Friday night and came home with a 53-41 victory over Washington. On Saturday they traveled to the Hawk's Nest and topped Springs Valley 54-45 in overtime. With the wins the Varsity improved to 6-2 on the season. Against the Hatchets Will Lyon led the Lions with 21 points and AJ Foster chipped in with 19. Seth Salmon had 8 points and 12 rebounds. Christian Garcia chipped in with 5. "I was really pleased with our poise all night long. We got off to a great start and really maintained the lead well throughout the night," said Coach Thompson of the win over the Hatchets. "They have a very nice ball club and are going to get better throughout the year. They've had some really tight games with some very good teams here early." "I thought Will had a fantastic game on both ends. He had 21 points, but what most people don't recognize is how good he can be defensively. He can cause problems for people with his length and athleticism," said Thompson. "AJ played very well for us and had some big baskets throughout the night. Salmon was an absolute beast out there. He had 8 points, but his 12 rebounds were so huge for us against their size inside," continued Coach Thompson. "Lucas Helderman also came in and gave us some huge minutes off the bench when Garcia was battling foul trouble." Unfortunately for the Lions, they lost point guard Cooper VanHoy with an ankle sprain with just under 40-seconds to go in the game. "Obviously, we hate to see Coop go down like that. He didn't score a single basket, but his poise with the ball all night was very good and his improvement really helped us tonight. This was just a total team effort by the guys and our best game of the year," Coach Thompson continued. On Saturday, playing without the injured VanHoy, the Lions headed over to Springs Valley to take on a 3-2 Blackhawk team who was coming off a big win over Perry Central at home on Friday. The Lions got off to a great start and led 12-4 at the quarter and 20-7 at half. "I thought our defense was tremendous in the first half," said Thompson. "Our attention to detail was great." The second half was a different story. "The wheels came off for us in the 3rd and 4th quarter. We were struggling offensively and turned it over way too much. Then, when we needed to get stops, we were making silly plays that we didn't make in the first half," said Thompson. AJ Foster made a big go ahead basket for the Lions to make it 45-43, but the Blackhawks caught a break and went to the line with a chance to win it with 1.8 on the clock. Fortunately, the Hawks missed one of the three free tries before Will Lyon's heave from half-court was just off the mark and the game went to OT. In OT, the Lions outscored the Blackhawks 9-0 and were able to win by the final tally of 54-45. AJ Foster led the Lions with 21 points. Will Lyon had 14 and Christian Garcia had 9. Gabe Walton made two threes and finished with 6 points. Seth Salmon and Noah Hager each had a basket. "Here's the thing. We played great defense in the first half and didn't finish the way we want to, but ultimately we made the plays we needed to in order to win. I'm proud of our guys for stepping up. Everyone was playing out of position all night long. We had (Lucas) Helderman; Hager; and Walton all come in and give us big minutes in a tight game. That will make us better as we enter the next third of the season," said Coach Thompson. The JV Lions gained a split over the weekend. They played well at Washington on Friday, especially in the first half, but fell to the Hatchets 54-45. Rhett Whitney led the JV Lions with 11 points. Clayton Miller and Chase Miller each had 8 apiece. Carter Downey had 5. Noah Hager and Garrison Graber each had 4. Gabe Walton added 3 and Lucas Helderman had a basket to round out the Lion scoring. On Saturday, the outcome was better for the JV Lions. They overcame a very sluggish start to win 50-36 over Springs Valley. Chase Miller led the JV Lions with 14 and Rhett Whitney had 12. Noah Hager had 7 points; Clayton Miller 6; 4 each for Carter Downey and Gabe Walton; and Lucas Helderman had a 3. With the split on the weekend, the JV Lions are now 3-3 on the season. The Lions will now be off until after Christmas when the JV and Varsity travel to Mitchell for the Cement City Classic on Monday/Tuesday, December 29th/30th. Their first home game after the new year will be when they entertain Vincennes Rivet on Saturday, January 3rd.