| Lake slips past Rossford (2-4-12) |
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| Written by THOMAS SCHMELTZ, Sentinel Sports Writer | ||
| Saturday, 04 February 2012 01:23 | ||
The contest between Northern Buckeye Conference members Lake and Rossford, which saw 10 ties and a lead that was never larger than six points by either team, came down to the final seconds. In the end the conference-leading Flyers were able to walk away with a 59-56 victory before an estimated crowd of 1,400. PHOTO GALLERY “Obviously, tonight’s crowd was ridiculous,” Lake head coach Ryan Bowen said. “Our last couple games here have been phenomenal with the fan support. The community is buying in a little bit and it charges our kids up.” Rossford led through the majority of the game with its largest lead being 21-15 early in the second quarter, and 33-27 at halftime. But with 1:04 left in the game, Lake had built a 56-50 lead, only to have it tied at 56 when Rossford’s Manny Durden missed a free throw, but got his own rebound and a put-back layup with 27 seconds remaining. On Lake’s ensuing possession, the Flyers’ primary scorer, Ra’Shad Smith, drove to the basket for the game-winning layup, only to miss in traffic. But 6-foot 5 Jayce Vancena collected the offensive rebound and converted the put back as he was fouled with just nine seconds left on the clock. Vancena completed the 3-point play at the free-throw line, and Rossford was left with six seconds for a chance at a tie, but Durden’s attempt went begging off the front of the rim. “A game like this it comes down to a put back. It comes down to one play here, one play there,” said Rossford head coach Brian Vorst. “They’re probably going to win the league championship, but these are the games that the league champion wins,” he added. Lake (12-4, 8-2) stays one game ahead of Eastwood (10-5, 7-3) in the NBC standings, while Rossford fell to 4-11, 4-6. “It’s good because we won our first six games by 30 points or more ... Now our kids are finding ways to win games that are close,” Bowen said. “I’m getting a little bit tired of these games,” he added, laughing as he referred to the two consecutive games that Lake has won by just three points. The Flyers had four players in double-figures as Smith led with 15 points, Jared Rettig scored 11 and Josh Tantari and Vancena each added 10. Tantari scored all of his points in the second half while Vancena scored eight of his 10 in the final 16 minutes to lead the Flyers. Durden and Larry Sloan led Rossford with 17 points each, but couldn’t carry the consistent offense of the Bulldogs’ from the first half into the second half. After trailing 33-27 at halftime, Lake came out in the third quarter looking like an entirely different team from a defensive standpoint. The Bulldogs were able to get consistent offense in the first half, but went 0-of-12 from the field in the third quarter allowing the Flyers to gain momentum. “In the first half, they were on their heels. They were reactionary,” Vorst said of Lake. “In the second half, we came out of the locker room and we were very reactionary. They were coming at us and that was the difference in the game. “If we come out on fire looking to put them away, we probably do that,” Vorst added. “But for some reason we didn’t have that killer instinct or that attitude that you need to have.” Lake won the junior varsity game 48-45. Cody Witt led the Flyers with 16 points. Nate Childress led Rossford with 12 points and Matt Enderbury added 10. LAKE 59, ROSSFORD 56 ROSSFORD Brock, 1-1-0—5; Mack, 1-1-0—5; Hotz, 0-1-4—7; Durden, 6-5—17; Sutter, 1-0—2; Sloan, 7-3—17; Aguirre, 1-0—2; Thompson, 0-1—1. TOTALS: 17-3-13—56. LAKE Tantari, 3-1-1—10; Rettig, 4-1-0—11; Swartz, 0-2—2; Pitts, 0-0—0; Bowen, 1-1-0—5; Vancena, 4-2—10; Hirzel, 3-0—6; Smith, 4-7—15; Pierce, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 19-3-12—59. ROSSFORD 15 18 1 22 —56 LAKE 13 14 6 26 —59 Junior varsity: Lake, 48-45. |
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| Last Updated on Saturday, 04 February 2012 09:00 |
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