Tigers earn two double-digit victories against Bloomfield and Summerland

The Osmond Tigers traveled to Bloomfield on Tuesday of last week before hosting Summerland on Thursday.

Osmond 48, Bloomfield 34

BLOOMFIELD — The Tigers traveled north on Tuesday night, Jan. 19, when they played a conference divisional foe, the eight-win Bloomfield Bees. In their away black jerseys, the Osmond boys wasted no time in establishing who the better team was, busting out to a 13-2 first quarter lead.

It was a quarter led by senior Graysen Schultze, getting seven of his game-high 20 points in the opening quarter. Stingy defense was being played on behalf of the Osmond front court, shutting down the Bloomfield offense before it had time to get started.

Adjustments were made in the second quarter as the Bees made more of an effort to get the ball into their big men down low, including a 6-ft., 6-in. Gabe Lauck and 6-ft., 3-in. Dalton Giesleman. The team effort on defense continued, seeing players for the Tigers like Zach Huwaldt and Stevin Hasler help shut down the duo and hold the big men to a combined five first-half points. Osmond took a firm 24-9 lead at halftime, but had their hands full in the second half.

Bloomfield played patiently and deliberately in the third and fourth quarter. The guards for the Bees took time to find the low post players who rolled and combined for 16 points in the second half.

Osmond continued scoring as well. Zach Huwaldt and Ryan Schmit both hit three-pointers in the second half and Schultze kept cooking with 11 points of his own. The lead was even trimmed to nine points with around one minute to go in the game, as the Bees took advantage of some lazy mistakes by the Tigers late in the fourth quarter.

Even with the late surge, the scoring of Schultze (20), Ryan Schmit (13) and Zach Huwaldt (9) proved to be too much for Bloomfield to handle. Score by Quarter

Osmond 14 11 12 12 = 48

Bloomfield 2 7 11 14 = 34

Osmond 67, Summerland 35

OSMOND — A home contest was held on Friday, as the Tigers played host to the Bobcats of Summerland. Though the Tigers would score more points and win by larger margin than Tuesday’s game, this one had a similar feel.

Osmond once again jumped out to a controlling lead but struggled to grow that margin in the second half. The lead at halftime was 27 points in favor of Osmond, with the Tigers playing some impressive ball.

Ryan Schmit shot out of a cannon for the Tigers in the first quarter with 10 points, including two made buckets from beyond the arc. Freshman Spencer Hille earned his first start of the season and his impact was noticed early with six first-half points.

Graysen didn’t score his first points until the second quarter, but managed to make up for it after that, finishing with 27 points! When Graysen wasn’t scoring, the senior was stealing and rebounding, coming up just one steal shy of his second triple-double!

In the second half, Summerland changed their defense to an aggressive trapping 3-2 zone. It gave the Tigers trouble for most of the 16 minutes, halting Osmond’s scoring to just 27 second-half points.

“I think our guys just relaxed a little coming back out after halftime and Summerland stepped up their effort and played very well on the defensive end,” summarized Coach Todd Schulze.

Graysen kept scoring for the Tigers, shooting an efficient 15/17 at the free throw line! Ryan hit another triple on his way to 17 points and Zach Huwaldt recorded nine points, three rebounds, three assists and three blocks in yet another consistent performance.

Hille finished with six in his first start and fellow freshman Owen Severson buried a three in his first varsity action of the season. In fact, Severson had the hot hand all night, scoring 20 points in the junior varsity’s 45-28 win over their Summerland adversary.

Next up for the Tigers was a road game against the LCC Bears (10- 5) and a home contest versus the Niobrara-Verdigre Cougars (7-8), the last two games for Osmond before the Lewis and Clark Conference Tournament begins.

Score by Quarter

Osmond 18 22 9 18 = 67

Summerland 6 7 10 12 = 35

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