Lustre Boys Eke Out Championship Win

Lustre Christian's boys basketball team held on to their perfect record with a tight win for the District 3C Championship this past weekend. The Lions rolled over the Dodson Coyotes 62-32 Thursday night after receiving a first-round bye in the tournament. They faced a hungry Scobey Spartans team Saturday night for the title game. Scobey brought their A-game in a bout that went down to the wire, but fell in Lustre's favor 38-37.

Lustre improved their record to 19-0 overall Thursday with a stomping of the Coyotes. The Lions went up 14-3 in the first and outscored Dodson 21-8 in the second quarter. The third quarter was all Lustre as they added 17 to their side of the scoreboard while holding the Coyotes to 6 points. Dodson attempted a comeback in the fourth with 15 points, but the Lions scored another 10 to cement their win.

Jasiah Hambira led all scorers with 17 points, hitting 3-of-5 free throws. Clay Reddig scored 9 with a three-pointer and Braden Ewing added 8 points. Elijah Lenihan connected for 7 with a trey and Terran Joseph scored 5 with a bonus shot. Alex Chen, Johnslee Pierre and Byron Ewing added 4 a piece while Cayden Klatt and Bryan Chen scored a bucket each. The Lions shot 49.1 percent from the court and 40.0 percent at the free throw line.

Dodson held their fouls to 15 while Lustre was called for 17. Lenihan and Br. Ewing both had three calls against them. Reddig, By. Ewing and Cam Reddig heard two whistles each. Klatt, B. Chen, Pierre, Hambira, and Joseph had one foul a piece.

The Lions outrebounded the Coyotes 41-26. Twelve boards went unattributed. Cl. Reddig, Pierre, Br. Ewing, By. Ewing and Hambira grabbed four boards each. Klatt, B. Chen, Lenihan and Ca. Reddig snagged two a piece with A. Chen pulling down one rebound.

The Coyotes had 26 turnovers with five assists and seven steals to Lustre's 18 giveaways, 13 assists and 13 steals. Klatt had four helpers to lead the Lions followed by Cl. Reddig with two, and B. Chen, Lenihan, Br. Ewing, By. Ewing, Hambira, Ca. Reddig, and Jospeh with one assist a piece. Klatt had three takeaways for Lustre. Lenihan, Br. Ewing and Hambira stole two balls each with B. Chen, Pierre, By. Ewing and Ca. Reddig adding one a piece to the stats sheet.

The win moved the Lions into the championship tilt where they faced their toughest challenge yet this season.

The Spartans hit the hardwood hungry. They ran up a 14-7 lead in the first quarter while also playing right defense. Lustre fumbled the ball, turning it over with some poor passing. The Lions fought back in the second quarter, outscoring Scobey 7-2 for a 16-14 Spartan lead at the half.

The Spartans went on a run late in the third to extend their lead over the Lions to 7 points by the end of the frame, 29-22.

Scobey continued to run the court throughout most of the fourth but a three-pointer by Klatt brought the Lions within 2 points. A Spartan foul sent Cl. Reddig to the line with 2:02 to play. The Lustre sophomore coolly drained the first to earn the second attempt. He sank the second one as well to tie the game.

Klatt hit another jumper to give the Lions the lead with 45 ticks left on the clock. The Lions fouled Scobey's John Carney to send him to the charity stripe. He sank 1-of-2, leaving Lustre with a 1-point lead as time wound down. Scobey took possession of the ball with 11.5 seconds remaining, pushed the ball downcourt and went to Carney for the three. The freshman's long bomb hit the the far side of the iron and bounced off, allowing Lustre to claim the narrow victory.

Klatt led the Lions with 10 points, hitting two shots from downtown when the team needed them most. Lenihan and Hambira both connected for 7 with Lenihan hitting a try and Hambira shooting 1-for-6 at the line. Cl. Reddig scored 6 with his 2-of-2 free throw showing. By. Ewing added 5 with a bonus shot, Br. Ewing hit a bucket and A. Chen sank a free throw. The Lions shot 33.3 percent from the field with a 39.1 percent showing in the second half, and 41.2 percent at the line.

The Lions were called for 14 fouls while Scobey had 19 infractions. B. Chen had four, Br. Ewing three, Cl. Reddig and Hambira two each, with Klatt, Lenihan and Pierre getting one foul a piece.

Scobey grabbed 38 rebounds to Lustre's 36 boards. Nine rebounds went unattributed with Cl. Reddig, By. Ewing, and Hambira pulling down six a piece. Klatt had five boards, Pierre two, with A. Chen and Lenihan adding one each to the stats.

Scobey held their turnovers to 13 with four assists and four steals. Lustre had 14 giveaways with seven assists and four steals. Klatt had four helpers and Cl. Reddig three assists. Cl. Reddig, B. Chen, Lenihan and Br. Ewing split the steals evenly.

The question on a lot of minds this season was how would the Lions handle playing from behind if and when it came to that? Head coach Randy Reddig was pleased with his team's performance. "I like how our team responded when being behind. Nothing really went right for us on Saturday night. Missed a lot of bunnies, free throws (which we are typically good on), and a lot of open looks we typically make. Despite all of that and being down at times by as much as a 11, I didn't see any panic. Everybody believed and we stuck together and pulled it off. We showed a lot of resolve and I was proud of them for that."

Looking at the last few minutes of the game, he does not believe much changed for his team other than their shots started to drop. "We had some untimely turnovers, which a lot of credit goes to Scobey and how they played. They played fast and made it tough on us, but we didn't get down and kept grinding."

Coach Reddig said his boys will continue to work on what got them to this point as they continue their postseason run. He knows the competition on the court will only get tougher from here, while giving the Spartans a great deal of credit for their play Saturday.

"I would just like [to] give the Glory to God, and just thankful for our community and the support they continue to show! Also, thanks to Brenner [Flaten] and the well run tournament him and his staff put on."

The Lions enter the Eastern C Divisional as the number one seed out of District 3C to face the Savage Warriors in the boys opening round Thursday, March 2. The Lions and Warriors tip off at noon.

The girls and boys Eastern C Divisional tourney runs Wednesday through Saturday, March 1-4, in Wolf Point. A full bracket will appear in next week's Courier.