Indians beat Halstead, fall to Rose Hill

By Michael Buhler TSnews

The Clearwater Indians boys basketball team split its first two games of the new year last week, downing Halstead 60-30 last Tuesday, but falling to Rose Hill 52-36 last Friday.

Against Halstead, Clearwater dominated the middle quarters, outscoring the host Dragons by a combined 36-15 margin in the second and third periods. The Indians outscored Halstead 19-4 in the third to turn a 31-20 halftime lead into a 52-24 rout.

“We executed our defensive game plan really well and took high percentage shots,” Clearwater coach Dustin Clevenger said. “I was really happy with our unselfish play all season and always looking for the open man. Trent Hastings shooting really got us going in the first half as he had his best game this season.

Brett Gibbs continues to be dominant in the paint and senior Cole Keesling played his first game of the season coming off a football injury. Cole gives us energy off the bench that we had been looking for this season.”

Defensively, the Indians held Halstead to just 29 percent shooting (12-of42) from the field and outscored the Dragons 38-12 in the paint. Clearwater also held a 33-22 advantage on the boards.

Trent Hastings led the Indians with 20 points, while Brett Gibbs added 15 to go with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Clearwater took on Mulvane earlier this week and hosts Wellington Friday before traveling to Chaparral next week for the Roadrunner Classic.

Clearwater: Hastings 20, Gibbs 15, Mason Seiter 7, Jake Klausmeyer 6, Keesling 4, Tyler Fugarino 4, Jaeden Fisher 2, Aiden Snell 2.

The Rose Hill Rockets turned 20 Clearwater turnovers into 20 points and ultimately into a 52-

36 win over the Indians last Friday.

“The game really came down to our turnovers and Rose Hill converting them into points,” Clevenger said. “Rose Hill is one of the top offensive teams in Class 4A and we held them to 17 points in the first half and about 17 points under their game average. Turnovers, and our inability to hit timely shots were the difference in the game.”

Hastings led Clearwater with 14 points, while Keesling had 11. Gibbs also had 11 rebounds in the loss.

Clearwater: Hastings 14, Keesling 11, Gibbs 3, Seiter 3, Fugarino 2, Ty Cash 2, Klausmeyer 1.