Panthers look back on season

The Alberton Panthers basketball season is over and though it didn’t end necessarily how they would have liked, Coach Clevenger felt that overall it was a successful season.

“We almost doubled our win total from the previous year,” Clevenger said. “And so that was positive and knowing that, we’re keeping in mind we didn’t have one senior on the team.”

The team only had a few juniors on the team and a lot of underclassman. The team struggled with numbers and had to bring an eighth grader up to play on the team.

“We struggled with numbers. It was difficult to have good practices with only nine kids,” Clevenger said. “We couldn’t have any scrimmage-like situations.”

The season got rough toward the end as some players had to drop out due to injuries and what not.

“And when you start with nine to begin with it makes it hard,” Clevenger said.

The Panthers started the season with a tough schedule. Right at the start of the season they were up against St. Ignatius and Charlo.

It was a fierce battle in the final two quarters of the game. Alberton left the third quarter still behind, 21-28. The final quarter of the game, the Panthers made up for some lost ground and cut St. Ignatius lead to just one point with 30 seconds left on the clock, but they ended up losing.

“We were close the whole way, but we weren’t able to make some shots in fourth quarter and we let some opportunities fall away,” Clevenger said afterwards. “They’re a class B school, so it was a good sign for us. It looks pretty promising.”

After Christmas break, the Panthers came back from a week of practice to play Seeley, and ended up winning.

Alberton jumped to an early lead out of the first quarter, 6-4. From there, the second quarter was a bit of a struggle as Seeley outscored them, 7-4, to lead going into halftime by one point, 10-11.

Alberton shut down the opposing team in the third quarter and went into the fourth with a slight lead, 19-13. They outscored Seeley in the fourth 15-10 and took the win, 32-23.

 “We had some problems scoring the ball and didn’t shoot the ball well,” Clevenger said of the game. “We also had some bad turnovers, but it was a win on the road so we’ll take it.”

Two of Alberton’s younger players shined in the game against Seeley.

 “Andrew Lommen, who is a freshman, and Jack Lehl, who is an eighth grader, played a majority of the game and they did a great job,” Clevenger said. “They’ve done that all year. They’ve come in off the bench for us and at their age, you don’t expect too much, but they’ve exceeded our expectations. And not only on they are holding their own, but they’re doing some good things.”

Clevenger said that hands-down one of their proudest moments of the season came when they upset league standing Victor.

“For us to be able to beat them allowed us to realize that we aren’t that bad ourselves,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger said that the atmosphere in the gym on Saturday night was amazing. The crowd was big and was cheering loud for the boys.

It was a tight game all the way. The Panthers were only ahead at halftime by five points, 25-20.

“We had a small lead, but we never relinquished the lead during the game,” Clevenger said.

Thompson scored a whopping 26 points for the Panthers, Brandon Lehl recorded 15 points and Josh Webb added 12 points for the team.

“The team really stepped up,” Clevenger said. “They are gaining some confidence and it wasn’t just one or two guys scoring, it’s everyone. When you can score, it helps.”

Clevenger noted that Thompson had a big performance against the team with his point totals. He also gave credit to Lehl and Todd Myrstol.

“Brandon and Todd really stepped up their game and they handled the press from Victor,” Clevenger said. “Victor is a team that likes to press and they have some quick guards. They get a lot of their points off of steals so holding onto the ball is crucial.”

After the regular season wrapped up, the boys went on to play in the district basketball tournament for Class C.

The team started out with a matchup against Phillipsburg and won 42-31, advancing into the semifinal game against Lincoln. They ended up losing 31-55 after falling behind in the first quarter. The loser-out game against Seeley was a close match for the boys and they only missed the game by one point. Alberton lost 39-40, which ended their run in the tournament.

“We ended our last game with a loss on a last second shot,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger said that it was a good experience for the kids to see what it takes to make it onto divisionals and to get a feel for the level of intensity you have to have.

“You can’t just play hard to win, you have to develop skills to go along with it,” Clevenger said. “I felt like we improved.”

Clevenger said that there will be high expectations next year as everyone is coming back.

“I think if they continue to put in the time and the work like they have in the past, they’ll continue to improve,” Clevenger said. “And they’ll have a really successful season not only in basketball, but in football and track.”