Boys basketball splits games with Hershey, Holyoke

    CCS Boys Basketball team went 1-1 over the last week. On Thursday Jan. 25 the boys traveled to Holyoke, losing a close game 44-53.
    It was good to get leading scorer Jensen Olsen back playing and healthy. Olsen was the Longhorns top scorer with 14 points and three steals. Kole Clevenger led in steals with six, while Cameron Lempke led the team with 8 boards.
    Holyoke had a hot trio of Reid and Wyatt Sprague and Colby Weber who scored 15, 12 and 16 respectively. Wyatt Sprague also led the team with nine rebounds with Reid close behind with seven.
    The Longhorns led by one at the end of the first quarter 11-10 but the Dragons turned that around , leading at half by one, 27-28.
    In the second half, the Horns just couldn’t seem to find a flow and Holyoke slowly pulled away to a 44-53 win.
    One positive on the night was the Longhorns shot 82% from the charity stripe, going 9-11. Holyoke shot 70%, making 14-20.
    The three pointers just wouldn’t fall with CCS making only 5-25, compared to Holyoke making 7-12.
    On Saturday Jan. 27, the Hershey Panthers came to Imperial. Hershey got off to a fast start in the game and kept the pressure on for the entire first half.
    After the Horns found themselves trailing 14-17 at the end of the first quarter, they slipped behind a couple more by half, trailing 25-30.
    It was a very physical game and the Horns seemed to wear the Panthers down in the second half.
    Midway through the third quarter, the Longhorns hadn’t closed the gap at all, but Easton Fries knocked down a big three-pointer at the end of the third quarter that sparked the Horns and brought them with-in three.
    The Longhorn defense really tightened up in the fourth and the pace of the offense wore down the Panthers, allowing CCS to out-score Hershey 13-7 in the final period and get the 52-49 win.
    The Longhorn boys definitely don’t have any quit in them, showing their resilience in the fourth quarter to come back and take the victory.
    The Longhorns had three players score in double digits,  Jensen Olsen (15), Tristan Jablonski (11) and Cameron Lempke with (10).
    Hershey had two players score in double digits, Kellan Spearman (21) and Cooper Hill with (15).