LAKE ORION TOPS OXFORD TO STAY ATOP OAA BLUE

LAKE ORION >> Joel Schroeder is working his magic again from the bench and the Lake Orion Dragons are breathing fire this season on the boys basketball floor.

Schroeder’s Lake Orion club has won seven of its last eight games. On Thursday, the Dragons outworked visiting Oxford for a 43-30 win to stay tied atop the OAA Blue standings with Troy Athens.

Dragons junior small forward Alden Ritt pumped in a game-high 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the victory. Defensively, senior Will McClear smothered Oxford’s highscoring guard Mason Mulholland all night and held him to a season-low seven points.

Lake Orion junior guard Malachi Grandberry swished a pullup jumper from just right of the top of the key at the halftime horn to cap an 11-0 Dragons run and send the home team into the locker room at the break, ahead 26-12.

Oxford whittled Lake Orion’s

lead into single digits midway through the fourth quarter on Trenton Brown’s triple from the corner to make it 38-30 with 4:25 left. Lake Orion didn’t blink

though, and responded with a pair of knockouts blows.

First, senior point guard Nick Fisher broke an Oxford press and found senior forward big man Xander Blackney with a beautiful no-look pass for any easy bucket in the paint. Fisher broke a Wildcats press again a minute later and hit Ritt for a back-breaking transition hoop at the 1:10 mark. Blackney recorded nine points and nine rebounds in the game and defended the post well.

Oxford slipped to 4-6 with the loss. Tristin Bennett contributed nine points and five boards for the Wildcats in defeat to highlight the Oxford scorebook.

Lake Orion is 8-2. Earlier this week, Dragons senior guard Andrew Bryant buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Berkley.

Schroeder got to Lake Orion last season after turning around the program at Pontiac.

“We’ve got a good mix with this team,” said Schroeder following Thursday’s game. “We

have solid guard play, the frontcourt is really starting

to come around and we defend with a lot of energy. That’s a pretty nice set of factors to have going in your favor.”

Ritt likes the fact that him and the Dragons were

overlooked heading into the 2021 campaign.

“We’re playing with chips on our shoulders, the whole roster,” Ritt said. “We play with focus, we’ve executed down

the stretch in games with the pressure on late and we get after it on defense. Tonight, we only allowed 30 points. That’s how you win ball games and prove yourself.”

PHOTOS BY KEN SWART — FOR MEDIANEWS GROUP Brennan Jones of Lake Orion puts up a shot between Oxford’s Tristan Bennett (33) and Mitchell Viviano (14) during the OAA Blue matchup played on Thursday at Lake Orion High School. The Dragons defeated the Wildcats 43-30.

Lake Orion’s Alden Ritt (right) holds off Oxford’s Tristan Bennett during the OAA Blue game played on Thursday. Ritt had a game-high 13 points as the Dragons defeated the Wildcats 43-30.