The Glasgow Courier - Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Tuesday proved to be a huge night in a tiny community. In Lustre, the Lions hit the hardwood against a record-setting Scobey Spartan team. The visiting Spartans had recently set an all-class boys basketball win record at 57 victories. When they showed up at Lustre Christian High School, the Lions team said, "This is not Sparta." The home team handed Scobey their first loss in decisive fashion – 47-33.

Lustre put up 14 points in the first quarter, including two three-pointers, while holding Scobey to 10 points. The Lions increased their lead to a 6-point margin in the second quarter – again connecting on two shots from downtown – outscoring the Spartans 12-10.

Back on the hardwood after halftime, the Spartans held even with the Lions with each team putting 9 points on their respective sides of the scoreboard. With the score in their favor 35-29 heading into the final quarter, the Lions cemented their victory with another 12 points. Lustre's defense held the visiting team to 4 points in those crucial 8 minutes.

Elijah Lenihan led the victorious Lions in scoring with 15 points, including two treys. Kolden Hoversland contributed 11 points, including a trey and Kaleb Hoversland added two three-pointers and 10 points. Jasiah Hambira scored 8 and Cayden Klatt scored 3 points.

Opheim's Bo Anderson, playing for the Unified Scobey-Opheim team, led the Spartans with 15 points. Gage Hallock had 7, Jace Bilbrey 4, Reagan Machart 3, and Hudson Kjos and Braxton Wolfe had 2 each.

Lustre was called for 15 fouls, seven in the second half, while Scobey had 18 total infractions, 12 in the second half. Kaleb Hoversland was called for four, Klatt and Hambira three each, Lenihan and Braden Ewing two each and Kolden Hoversland one.

The Lions went only 4-for-13 at the line, but made up for it with hot shooting from the field. Overall, the team had a 45.2 shot percentage, 56.0 shot percentage on 2-point field goals. Kaleb Hoversland, Lenihan and Kolden Hoversland all shot at 50 percent or better from the field. Kaleb Hoversland shot 66.7 percent from downtown.

As a whole, the team pulled down 21 rebounds, eight offensive and 13 defensive. Hambira led the team with eight boards, split evenly at each end of the court. Kolden Hoversland had five rebounds and Kaleb Hoversland had four, three offensive.

Kolden Hoversland had six of the team's 10 assists. Klatt had three and Lenihan one. Kolden Hoversland also led the team in steals with three. Klatt and Lenihan had two thefts each while Hambira and Kaleb Hoversland had one each. Ewing, Hambira and Kolden Hoversland each had a blocked shot for Lustre Christian.

"All around team effort, minimal turnovers against their pressure defense," said head coach Randy Reddig regarding the key to his team's success, "and we played a very good team defense to limit their best player to 3 points."

Lustre's win came the night after their trip to Bainville where they defeated the Bulldogs 59-51.

The Lions took a 13-10 lead after the first quarter and increased it to 25-21 heading into the half.

PHOTO COURTESY LUSTRE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

Lustre Christian's Jasiah Hambira (#30) takes a short jumpshot during Lustre Christian's upset win over Scobey Dec. 21

The host Bulldogs barked loudly in the third quarter with 23 points to the Lions' 17, but the Lions put up another 17 in the final eight minutes while holding Bainville to 7 points.

Kolden Hoversland led all scorers with 22 points, including three treys and going 3-for-4 on free throws. Hambira also went 3-for-4 on bonus shots and put up 13 points. Lenihan added 9 points, Klatt had 8, Kaleb Hoversland 5 and Clay Reddig 2 points.

The Lions avoided sending the Bulldogs into bonus free throws by keeping their fouls to six in the first half and five in the second, while the host team had 15 fouls, ten in the second half.

Lenihan was called for four fouls, Hambira and Kolden Hoversland two each while Klatt, Kaleb Hoversland and Ewing were called for one each.

The Lustre Christian Lions return to the hardwood Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, when they host the Frazer Bearcubs with games beginning at 5:30 p.m.