When Malcolm High School boys’ basketball coach Chris Lewandowski looked over his team’s January schedule he knew it would be a tough stretch. The reality of just how tough it would be is setting in. Through their first eight games this month, the Clippers have faced six opponents with double-digit wins and single-digit losses and just two teams with losing records. Malcolm is 2-6 in that stretch.
The Clippers find themselves on a three-game losing skid after tough assignments the past week against Freeman, Wilber-Clatonia and Mead. Those three teams have a combined 36-10 record this season.
Malcolm traveled to Mead Jan. 23 where they faced one of the toughest teams in the conference. Mead has just one loss this season.
The Clippers got off to a good start against the Raiders until early foul trouble landed three Malcolm starters on the bench. The Clippers’ three tallest starters - Mason Warrelmann, Matthew Schmidt and Dylan McKee - all picked up two fouls in the first quarter.
“Things were going well up to that point,” Lewandowski said. “When we have to go that deep into our bench that early it hurts.”
Mead took advantage of their situation and stormed ahead to a 41-23 halftime lead.
Mead’s guards had a big night going 9-of-16 from beyond the three-point arc in their 72-48 victory over the Clippers.
“We’ve given up 19 threes in the past three games,” Lewandowski said. “We’re not doing a good job closing out on the ball.”
McKee led the Clippers with 20 points. Dalton Engelbart added 10.
The night before - Jan. 22 - Malcolm faced Wilber-Clatonia for the second time this season and hoped this result would be better than their 18-point defeat in the championship game of their holiday tournament.
The Clippers jumped out to an early 9-6 lead in the first quarter but the Wolverines’ Brice Broz flipped the script in the second quarter when he scored 15 points, including a couple of three-pointers to send Wilber-Clatonia to the locker room with a 25-12 lead.
Broz finished with 21 as the Wolverines dominated the second half on their way to a 55-33 win.
Engelbart and Warrelmann led Malcolm with eight points each.
The story was similar for the Clippers when they traveled to Freeman Jan. 19 and suffered a 68-44 defeat.
“We’ve shown signs all season that we can be a good team at times,” Lewandowski said. “We just aren’t consistent enough to put together a complete 32 minutes.
“We’ll have a good quarter or a good half, but we won’t come back out and finish. One game a guy will score 20 and then he might have four the next night. I know we have the talent to compete, it just needs to come together.”
The Clippers are now 5-11 and travel this week to Johnson County Central (11-4) before starting their conference tournament Saturday, Jan. 30.
“We haven’t played up to our potential yet,” Lewandowski said. “We need some things to start clicking and the tide will turn in our favor. I hope to see that start this week.”
