Chemistry. That one word might best explain the success of the Malcolm boys.
After sweeping three postseason games in five days, the Clippers are heading to the state tournament for the first time in 21 years and just the fourth time in school history. Malcolm punched its ticket with a 56–45 win over Sidney in the Feb. 24 C1-4 district final in Gothenburg.
“This team doesn’t have any all-stars,“ Malcolm head coach Chris Lewandowski said. “We have a bunch of guys willing to do whatever it takes. They don’t care who gets the credit.“
That chemistry shows up in how this team shares the ball. Against Sidney, the Clippers made 19 field goals, with 16 coming by way of an assist from a teammate. In the Feb. 20 subdistrict opener – a 57-32 rout of Raymond Central – the Clippers dished out 17 assists on their 23 made baskets.
“It makes us hard to game plan against, “Lewandowski said. “A different guy each night might step up and lead the team in scoring.“
Malcolm entered the win-or-go-home district final as the No. 13 seed while Sidney, at 21-2, was No. 4. Following Thursday night subdistrict wins, the teams had one day of practice to prepare for an unfamiliar opponent from the other side of the state.
“We didn’t get a lot of sleep Thursday night,” Lewandowski said. “We looked at film from 15 games and broke it down pretty quickly to put together a plan of attack.
“Knowing the kind of competition we see in our conference, we didn’t see anything that would scare our guys. We had confidence we could come away with a victory.”
In a back-and-forth first half that saw at least five lead changes, the Red Raiders took a four-point lead into the intermission. But, it was the Clippers that grabbed the momentum in the third quarter.
“We ran our offense better in the second half,” Lewandowski said. “Once we got up, we stressed the need to be patient and play like we had the lead.
“We felt like Sidney got tired of playing defense after about four passes. If we could stay in it, we knew they would eventually lose track of our guys and someone would have an open look.”
Maddox Meyer led Malcolm with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Carson Frank added 14 points and six assists.
“Maddox did what a senior leader should do,” Lewandowski said. “After being a role player last year, he really stepped up as a leader this year.”
In their 57-31 win over Milford in the Feb. 22 subdistrict final, Frank had 12 while Meyer scored 10 and grabbed nine rebounds. Six different Clippers accounted for a total of nine three-pointers against the Eagles.
Against Raymond Central, Meyer had 12 while Frank had 11.
At 19-7, Malcolm has achieved the second most wins in school history and the most in Lewandowski’s 11 seasons at the helm. The district championship is the first since 1996.
The Clippers begin state tournament play March 7 at the Devaney Sports Center. Pairings will be released on Wednesday, Feb. 28.
