In a tight contest, it was the Alliance boy’s basketball outlasting Hot Springs 55 to 46 Saturday night in South Dakota. Alliance led throughout and then withstood a late rally by the Bison in picking up their second victory for the season. Senior Espen Lanik tallied 22 points to lead the Alliance O while junior Braeden Clarke was good for 13. Hot Springs won the JV contest, defeating the Dogs 52 to 49. It was the first loss on the year for the junior varsity club. AHS led by 8 at half time in the varsity affair and by 10 heading to the fourth but the hosts would close to 7 at the midway stage in period #4 to make things interesting. Free throws down the stretch by Lanik and Trevor Zurn then denied a Bison comeback.
Scoring in the first started with a three by Clarke and a deuce by Lanik that gave the visitors a 5 point lead. Hot Springs responded with back to back buckets to close to within one but a trey by Lanik made it 8 to 4. After another hoop by the Bison, AHS held the lead thanks to another hoop by Lanik. Bulldog guard Creighton Fritzler then got into the scoring column with a 2 as the guests increased their advantage to 6 at 12 to 6. The first ended with a Hot Springs 3 at the buzzer and the Dogs in front 12 to 9.
Treys continued to fall for the hosts in the second. Hot Springs would score 12 points in the quarter, all coming from the three point line. A Bison 3 ball knotted the game 12 in the opening minutes of the second. Alliance answered the mini run by scoring the game’s next 9 points to surge 21 to 12 at the 4 minute stage. Treys by Lanik and Zurn started the spurt. Three points by Fritzler were next as the Dogs took a 21 to 12 lead. Back came the Bison. Hot Springs nailed 2 straight threes to slice their deficit to 3. Four tallies by Clarke ensued that made the board read Alliance 25 Hot Springs 18. The half closed with baskets by Alliance’s Devin Graham and Lexton Salcido and another 3 by the Bison. At half, the Bulldogs held a 29 to 21 margin.
Six straight tallies by the hosts is how the second half began. The Bison made three free throws plus a three pointer to close to within 2 at 29 to 27. Alliance answered the challenge with 8 consecutive tallies of their own. It started with 2 free throws by Lanik and a 2 by Clarke. Up by 6. another hoop by Clarke and a deuce by Lanik made it a 10 point game. Midway through the period and the Dogs up by 6, a 2 by Jaden Guerra kept the visitors in the lead. Five straight by the hosts ensued as the Bison got close at 39 to 36. Quarter #3 ended with a nice stretch by the Bulldogs. AHS scored 8 in a row, getting tallies by Clarke, Zurn, Lanik, and Guerra. The bucket by Guerra was at the buzzer and the period came to a conclusion with Alliance leading 46 to 36.
Lanik would score 7 in the fourth that stopped a possible Bison comeback. Two hoops by the lefty along with a free throw by Guerra gave AHS a 51 to 40 lead at the six minute mark. Hot Springs closed to within 7 after back to back baskets with four minutes remaining. Alliance put the game away with a strong defensive effort and free throws by Zurn and Lanik down the stretch. Two good charity stripe shots by Lanik ended the game with the Dogs getting the win 55 to 46.
ALL 12 17 17 9 55
HS 9 12 15 10 46
Scoring for Alliance Lanik 22 Clarke 13 Fritzler 5 Guerra 5 Zurn 6 Graham 2 Salcido 2
Alliance will have a home game Tuesday vs Torrington and a road contest in Chadron on Friday.