Leopards cruise by North Lamar, 58-35
TEXARKANA, Texas — Liberty-Eylau dominated North Lamar during a District 15-4A boys basketball game.
The Leopards limited the visiting Panthers to one bucket during the first 12 minutes of the game.
By the time NL managed to put any type of offense together, Liberty-Eylau led by 20-plus points en route to a 58-35 win Tuesday at the Rader Dome as both teams wrapped up the first half of district play.
L-E (2-3) is third in the league standings after the dominance of the Panthers (0-5).
“We’ve been working hard on improving our defense, we still want to cut our turnovers down, but our intensity was great,” Leopard coach Dewaski Davis said. “The kids playing fast helped kick start us early, and considering that the second quarter has been our Achilles’ heel, tonight we did a good job of keeping up our intensity.”
Liberty-Eylau led 13-2 at the first break and was ahead 25-3 before North Lamar scored on consecutive possessions. The Leopards took a 32-15 lead into intermission and extended that to 51-26 after three quarters.
A 10-point spurt by L-E midway through the third made it 45-20, and the teams played the final 10 minutes on near even terms.
Liberty-Eylau scored 38 points in the middle quarters, and substitutes played nearly the entire fourth for the Leopards, who travel to Pleasant Grove Friday. L-E expects to have its full roster back for the game at the Hawks.
“We like to keep scoring through those middle quarters; it takes moving away from the ball and controlling the ball,” Davis said. “We’re looking back to being full strength on Friday and believe we’re jelling at the right time.”
Jaquan Roberts led the Leopards with 16 points, and Tahj Stewart scored 10. Pharell Thurman added eight, and Shawn White had six as every Liberty-Eylau player scored in the game.
Case Fendley had nine points to lead North Lamar.
The Panthers won the junior varsity game, 60-30.