CIMARRON — Colby Hamel of Lakin High School’s boys ‘basketball team pounded his way in the paint to 25 points and turned numerous missed shots into scoring opportunities through offensive rebounds.
It proved to be the difference in a 64-49 victory over host Cimarron Friday night.
Cimarron had trouble competing with Hamel’s 6-foot-2, 270 pound frame.
“He does a great job of using his body and getting inside,” Cimarron head coach Doug Minneman said. “And he has great touch on his shot.”
The Blue Jays let a game that was tied at 44 going into the final quarter slip away as they did not score in the final three minutes.
“We just lost it,” said Cimarron’s Charles Blattner. “We couldn’t handle (and) we couldn’t board. Nothing was going our way.”
The Blue Jays began the game on a 10-3 run, fueled by Wyatt Slaven and Ryan Bryant.
Bryant got a steal and dished it to Slaven who hit a mid-range jumper for the game’s first points.
Hamel got the Broncs rolling, using his size in the paint and scoring his team’s first 10 points.
“They did not have an answer for me,” Hamel said. “ So we kept feeding me the ball.”
With less than a minute to play somebody besides Hamel put up points for Lakin as both Dylan Shalberg and Evan Holmes made baskets to tie the game at 14 at the end of the quarter.
Charles Blattner of the Blue Jays found his shot with four minutes left in the half, scoring all of Cimarron’s final eight points.
“I just warmed up and started going,” Blattner said. “I knew I had my teammates counting on me.”
The Blue Jays stifled Hamel for the first seven minutes of the second quarter, but they couldn’t continue their containment on the big man as he scored four points helping erase a 31-22 Cimarron lead and carried the Broncs into the locker room trailing 31-28.
Hamel finished the third period like the second, putting up four points in the final two minutes to tie the game at 44 going into the final quarters.
Zach Reed of Lakin intercepted a pass during Cimarron’s first position and took it coast to coast to give the Broncs a two-point lead and start an 8-1 run.
The Blue Jays failed to keep the game close in the final quarter as they were outscored 20-5.
Lakin 64, Cimmaron 49
CIMARRON
Saige Martinez 0 2-2 2, Wyatt Slaven 4 0-0 8, Charles Blattner 5 5-815, Ryan Bryant 6 1-3 14 Matt Wehkamp 4 0-0 8, Travis Sharp 1 0-0 2.
LAKIN
Alex Jones 3 2-5 9, Dylan Shalberg 7, 2-4, 16, Bryant Miller 2, 3-4, 7, Zach Reed, 3-0-0, 6 Colby Hamel 10, 5-5, 25, Evan Holmes 1, 0-0, 2.
Cimmaron 14 17 13 5 — 49
Lakin 14 14 16 24 — 64
Three-point goals — Lakin 1 (Jones); Cimmaron 1 (Bryant).
