HUMBOLDT — A red hot night from three-point range for Crest High’s boy’s basketball team helped earn the Lancers an opening round victory in the Second Annual Emprise Bank Basketball Tournament. The Lady Lancers, however, didn’t fare so well.
The Lancer boys set the tone early in their 58-35 victory over the Erie High Red Devils, draining five three-point field goals in the first period. The Lancers forced 20 points to the Red Devils’ 8 in the opening quarter.
“We’re a good shooting team from the outside and we knew that would be one of our strengths this year, but I think tonight was probably a little bit of an exception of the rule,” said Travis Hermreck, Lancer head coach, referring to the 33 points Crest scored from behind the arc.
Kyle Hammond and Jordan Morton were the high scorers for the Crest offense. Hammond had half of the teams 58 points on seven field goals, three from three-point land. Morton drained four three-pointers on his way to 14 points.
Hermreck said high energy offense and good ball movement created open shots, what ultimately led to the victory.
Though nearly every Crest shot seemed to find the basket, the Red Devils didn’t quit. After going to half down 16, Erie came out fighting, scoring 13 points in the third. And when Crest failed to score its first points of the fourth quarter until 3:03 was on the clock, the Red Devils cut the lead to 13.
Hermreck said stale defense and “horrific” rebounding gave Erie life in the second half.
“We have to rebound better Thursday night against Humboldt (High),” he said.
But the Lancers were just too much for the Red Devils. Coming out of a time-out with just minutes remaining in the game, Hammond started driving to the basket, drawing fouls along the way. Hammond’s seven free throws helped open Crest’s lead back up, beating the Red Devils by 23 points.
“You never know what you’re going to get early in the year. The second game of the year, I was pretty dang happy with it,” Hermreck said.
THE LADY LANCERS bus ride back to Colony wasn’t so jubilant. Unable to put a crooked number on the score board until two minutes into the second period, Crest fell to the Erie girls 59-15.
Only forcing four first half points and trailing by 31 to start the second half, the deficit proved insurmountable for the Lady Lancers. Despite the Crest girls doubling their first half scoring production in the third quarter alone, solid shooting by the Red Devils kept the Lady Lancers from getting close.
Though Crest suffered its second loss in just five days, Lady Lancer head coach Jennifer Reed said she saw a lot of positives in the way the girls played, considering a few of her players were coming off injury.
Reed said the team played progressively better as the game went on, something that should give the girls confidence in Thursday’s match against Humboldt High.
“As a team they did much better,” she said. “They talked more, both on offense and defense.”
Leading the way on offensive for Crest was 5-10 junior center Kurston Gilliland with four points and three rebounds. Erica Holman handed out two assists.
Crest boys (20-12-14-12—58) (FG/3-pt): C. Bowen 2/1-2-0-9, Boone 0-2-2-2, Morton 0/4-2-3-14, Hammond 4/3-7-2-24, Brallier 0/3-0-1-9, J. Bowen 0-0-4-0, Ellis 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 6/11-13-13-58.
Erie boys (8-8-13-6—35): K. Page 1-1-4-3, Dozier 0-2-3-2, Hartzell 3-0-3-6, Lehenbauer 0-1-1-1, G. Page 0-0-1-0, Marquardt 2/2-0-3-10, Spielbusch 0/1-0-2-3, Murphy 4-2-1-10. TOTALS: 10/3-6-18-35.
Crest girls (0-4-8-3—15) (FG/3-pt): Frank 0-3-1-3, Strickler 0-1-2-1, Gilliland 2-0-2-4, Gray-Lacross 0-1-0-1, Holman 1-0-0-2, Kellar 1-0-1-2, Covey 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 5-5-7-15.
Erie girls (23-12-14-10—59): Engstrom 0-0-1-0, Cleaver 4-2-0-10, Wolken 1-1-0-3, Brungardt 6-0-2-12, Johnson 0-0-4-0, Mitchell 2-0-1-4, Cornett 3-2-1-8, McGuire 6/1-1-0-16, Landell 2-0-1-4. TOTALS: 25/1-6-13-59.
