By John Raffel
Correspondent
CLARE — Clare’s boys basketball team picked up its first win of the season on Dec. 6 with a 44-32 verdict over Shepherd in Jack Pine action.
Dane Alexander let all scorers with 17 points. Ryan Louch had 11 points, seven assists and four steals. Chase Randall chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds.
On Monday of this week, Clare lost to Meridian 37-29 on the road. This led to Wednesday’s home game to Ogemaw Heights which the Pioneers lost 52-50.
“Down the stretch (Ogemaw Heights) made some threes and made some shots),” Can coach Byron Schunk said. “We didn’t make our shots and that was the difference. They outscored us by 10 in the fourth quarter.
“We had a chance at the end. We had two good looks but the all ind’t go in. We had a good overall effort. It’s a matter of making better basketball decisions.”
Clare led 27-17 at halftime.
Ryan Louch had 15 points for Clare. Alexander had 13 points. Lincoln Older had 10 points.
In the loss to Meridian Clare led 8-7 after the first quarter and 16-12 at halftime. Meridian led 27-24 after the quarter.For Meridian, Nate Steinka had nine points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Josiah Prince had seven points and Alijah Frazier had five points five rebounds and two assists.
Louch and Randall had eight points and Parker Smith had six points.
“We pressured the ball all game long and forced enough turnovers to have a chance. We made free throws (8-of-13) and controlled the end of the game,,” Meridian coach Mitch Bohn said.
Clare is 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the Jack Pine. The Pioneers will play Friday at Farwell.
