Cougars Win Two, Raise Record to 2-1

By Clare Wiltse, Sports Contributor
The Cougar boys raised their record to 2-1 with a pair of wins during the second week of the basketball season.  They took down Winside by the score of 48-31 and Clarkson/Leigh by four points, 51-47.

Alec Anderson put on a show against Winside.  He scored the first six points of the game.  After Winside got on the board he followed up with three more scores including a crowd pleasing two hand slam after he made a steal at mid court.  Anderson finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots.

Winside 4 7 15 5 -31
LDNE 17 7 12 13 -48

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 0 1 1-2 7 0 4
O’Connor 0 0 0 2 1 0
Christiansen 1 0 0 3 1 2
Whitaker 0 0 0 1 1 0
Ferguson 1 1 0 1 1 5
Anderson 14 0 1-2 14 2 29
Hardeman 0 0 0 4 1 0
Christoffersen 4 0 0 5 3 8
LDNE 20-36 2/7 2/5 35 9 48
Winside 10/28 3/16 2/4 15 11 31

The match up against Clarkson /Leigh went down to the final minute to determine the winner.  The Cougars had a nine point lead in the third period, but it melted away in the fourth quarter.  The Patriots took the lead with 3:45 to play Northeast outscored them 8 to 4 in the last two minutes to claim the win.

The first period had two ties and four lead changes.  Alec Anderson put the Cougars on top 10-9 and sent he Cougars to the second period with a three point lead with another bucket.

Northeast went nearly five and one-half minutes without a score in the second quarter.  The Patriots took the lead with seven unanswered points.  Jon Christiansen broke the draught with a score at the 2:39 mark.  Three seconds later a steal ended with Cole Christoffersen making a game-tying  lay-in.  Marcus Hegy’s drive of the lane put LDNE on top 45 seconds to play.  Christoffersen’s goal made it 22-20 at the half.

A 9-2 run  for the Cougars started the second half.  Christoffersen, O’Connor, Riecken, and Anderson scored.  Two quick threes by the Patriots cut the lead to three.  The lead was down to two when Montana Riecken scored with to two seconds left.  Northeast took a 38-34 lead into the fourth quarter.

Clarkson/Leigh scored twice in the first minute of the period to tie the score.  At the 6:45 mark Hunter Ferguson nailed a three which the Patriots countered for another tie.  Alec Anderson’s bucket made it 43-41.  C/L’s Mundil gave the Patriots a 44-43 advantage with 3:45 to play.

Northeast went to their ace to take a 45-44 lead.  Anderson drove the baseline for the go-ahead score with 2:10 left.

Both teams would have opportunities to claim a win, but neither team could cash in.  C/L missed a pair of threes and the Cougars missed two free shots and muffed a pass under the basket.  The Patriots missed a driving shot at the 41 second mark and intentionally fouled Anderson after he rebounded the miss.  The senior calmly sank both shots.

After a Clarkson/Leigh miss Montana Riecken was fouled with 14.5 seconds to play.  The Cougar’s point guard nailed both ends of the one-and-one for a  49-44 lead.  The Patriots were not done.  They hit a three with 8.7 to play.  Riecken was fouled on the inbounds and faced another bonus situation.   Once against he made both for the final 51-47 score.

Northeast had two finish in double figures.  Anderson had 18 points and Riecken had 12.  The Cougars shot 58% to 38% for the Patriots.  Northeast held a 34 to 19 advantage in rebounds.

C/L 9 11 14 13 -47
LDNE 12 10 16 13 -51

2pt 3pt FT Rb F TP
Riecken 4 0 4-4 5 1 12
O’Connor 1 0 0 3 1 2
Christiansen 1 0 0-1 1 1 2
Hegy 34 0 0 6 3 6
Ferguson 0 1 0 0 0 3
Anderson 7 0 4-4 10 4 18
Hardeman 0 0 0 1 1 0
Christoffersen 4 0 0-7 8 2 8
LDNE 20/34 1/4 8/17 34 13 51
C/L 11/21 7/27 4/4 19 13 47