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Hornets sting Indians 61-55
Basketball generic two

SENECA - Things got a little tougher for the Seneca boys basketball team on Friday, Jan. 1, when the conference leading Wauzeka-Steuben Hornets came to town for the showdown.

The Seneca gym was packed and everybody stayed to the end. The Indians dug themselves a hole in the first half and the Hornets went into the locker room leading 29-17. 

However, the Indians were far from done. Seneca sewed up the hole in the second half, only to see Wauzeka-Steuben widen it back out to 10 points. Then, they closed the Hornets lead again. With just minutes to play in the game, Seneca had the lead down to two points twice with the Hornets having the ball.

Wauzeka-Steuben quickly showed why they are undefeated in conference play and held off Seneca in the final minutes to win 61-55.

Seneca’s head coach David Boland understood the loss in real terms

“When you’re playing someone that good, points are hard to come by,” Boland said. 

It was a comeback that fell short, but not by much and everyone that was there to see it is still talking about it.

For the game, Seneca sophomore Ashton Swanson had a double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, while senior guard Kolton Chambers scored 18 points on five three-pointers, a field goal and a free throw.

For Wauzeka-Steuben, senior forward Carter Lomas led all scorers with 24 points. In addition to seven baskets, he went 10 of 11 at the free throw line. 

And, Lomas had lots of help from his Hornet teammates. Gavin Ralph scored 14 points and Jake Reichmann scored eight points. However, Jake wasn’t the only Reichmann to score in this game–Isaac scored six points on two three-pointers and Jonah had six points as well. 

On Saturday, Jan. 11, the Indians hosted the Kee High Hawks from Lansing, Iowa.

Seneca wasted little time opening a 10-point lead in the first half to lead 31-21 at halftime and then expanding on it in the second half to win handily 65-39.

Sophomore guard Ashton Swanson led the team in scoring with 16 points and senior guard Kolton Chambers scored 13. Kadin Wallin scored nine points and senior post player Nate Klema scored eight points, while senior Lucas Kilburg and freshmen Evan Payne each scored six points. Rounding out the scoring were Joey Oppriecht, who had three points, and Nick Kirchhoff, who had one point.