Fatima suffered a few letdowns in the second half of Thursday’s road game against Southern Boone as
the varsity squad lost 57-51.

“The guys were mentally ready to play in this one and played an extremely good first half,” said Coach Ryan Robertson. “We led the majority of the game but we still continue to have short little lapses in the second half. Southern Boone is a good team and again we were right there. We are playing solid basketball for the most part, and if we can get rid of some mental errors we will get different outcomes. I’m proud of our guys’ attitude and their effort. The work ethic is there.”

Brett Werner led the offense with 18 points  Nate Brandt put in 12, followed by Cole Lehmen (7), Lee Verslues (6), Jacob Vanderfeltz (6) and Masan Stuecken (5). No other stats were available.

In the JV game, the Comets nearly wiped out a 16-point halftime deficit but fell short in a 42-40 loss to the Eagles.

“We had three chances to win it but we couldn’t over come their strength, size and athleticism,” said Coach Jeff Adamson as the Comets trailed 33-17 at the break but outscored SoBo 23-9 in the second half. “It was a great game; every possession was huge.”

Nate Lehmen led with 14 points as Cooper Kleffner and Jack Robertson put in six apiece, and Blake Gentges scored five.

Fatima’s freshmen lost 46-30 as Tyler Fortson led the way with nine, followed by Jacob Schulte and Cooper Kleffner, each with seven, Blake Gentges, Izac Rehagen, and Tanner Bock, with two apiece, and Garret Mantle with one. On Tuesday, Fatima’s varsity squad defeated New Bloomfield 89-39.

“New Bloomfield is going through a rebuilding stage and we were able to jump out to a nice early lead,” Robertson said. “We are hanging our hat on the defensive end of the floor, and it showed in the first quarter tonight. When we can create some turnovers without giving up any easy baskets, that is when we are at our best. We have lapses of this at times but we feel overall in this game we were solid throughout.”

The Comets raced to a 31-4 lead after the first quarter and led 54-21 at the half as Werner scored a team-high 24, including a 3-3 night from three-point range. Brandt added 11 points with a trey, while Dawson Huhn (trey) posted nine, Carter Karst, Verslues and Stuecken (two treys) each put in eight, Vandy chipped in seven, C. Lehmen had six, Jon Dickneite and Leo Peters scored three each, and N. Lehmen finished with two.

Verslues recorded a teamhigh six assists with four apiece by Karst and Stuecken and three more from C. Lehmen.

Six players — Peters, Luke Boyce, N. Lehmen, Brandt, C. Lehmen and Dickneite — each finished with three rebounds, and Verslues had two. Karst led the defensive effort with five steals to go with three apiece by C. Lehmen, Brandt and Werner, as N. Lehmen and C. Lehmen each had a block.