Lustre News
The Lustre Christian boys’ basketball team won the Eastern C divisional championship held at Miles City on March 4-7!
Coached by Randy Reddig and assisted by Justin Klatt, they began Wednesday 3 p.m in a game against Terry, as nine teams were competing for the title. After a half-time score of 36-18, they beat Terry 65-44. On Thursday, they played Brockton Warriors, staying ahead the entire game, winning 81-42. The semi-final match was Friday at 4:30 p.m. against Circle, who had victory over Jordan. Lustre won 67-36 to earn their berth in the championship on Saturday evening. The hard-working Lustre Lions won 55-50 in a true championship nail-biter.
The LCHS team will leave Tuesday to go to Missoula to play in its first game, Wednesday, 6 p.m. against Chester-Joplin-Iverson at the state tournament.
A well-attended reception for the basketball team was held in the gymnasium at 5 p.m. Sunday. Coach Randy Reddig read the years’ team verses to the audience from I Corinthians 16:13-14. “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (NASB1995).
He said he had focused the teams’ attention on the phrase, “act like men.” He said they listen to music as they do the final preparations for the game, and just before the Wednesday game, the song that played had the words, “The only thing I fear is God and He is on our side.” Randy put the words on the whiteboard, and told them “Having God on your side doesn’t mean we will win. It means God is with us, win or lose.”
He turned the mic over to the players in the order they’d been introduced. The players thanked people for their support in small and big ways. Chris Traeholt pointed out we were considered underdogs, coming in third at district. Hadden Olfert began “Thank God. Without Him we couldn’t do this.” Josef Lee said “God is good.” Prestyn Klatt said “God is good; without Him we wouldn’t be here.” Diek Olfert acknowledged a shout out they’d been given by the bus driver on their respectful behavior, and said “It’s both of the coaches’ influence that models this respect.” Joel Reddig said “Thank you for cheering and praying for us.” Johnslee Pierre said “My parents are not here, but the coaches have been like parents to me. I will miss the boys.”
Assistant coach Klatt thanked the three managers for doing a great job, and those who provided snacks for the team. He said one of the phrases they used to encourage the boys was “heart of a lion,” defining it as “having courage, fearlessness, deep inner strength, protective, noble.”
Coach Reddig thanked Mr. J and the band, especially the adults from the community who joined them to play for each game. He said jokingly, “The cheering was so loud, the boys didn’t hear a thing we said.” He thanked the community folk who bought the meals for the team, explaining the school did not need to buy one meal for the team! He told the team at the end of district tournament, “All our goals are still ahead of us. God has us on a crazy path and it will be special”. He thanked the younger members of the entire team for their contributions over the season, whether they played in the championship game or not. “You are part of this.” Acknowledging the near concussions, the bus issues, and the good health of the players as reasons to be thankful, he closed the celebration with a prayer.
