Jr. Rams roll early, rout Malvern
Finding their rhythm early, Lakeside’s junior boys routed Malvern 56-23 Thursday night at Lakeside Athletic Complex to remain undefeated.
While the Cubs ( 5- 4) got on the scoreboard first, the junior Rams (7-0) wasted no time taking it to the hoop as they found their footing moments into the ballgame to extend an 11-6 first-quarter lead to 24-10 at the break, with freshmen A.J Howard and Braylen Russell combining for 21 of Lakeside’s first-half points.
“Well, we knew they were a good basketball team, and this a three- game week for us — the first time we’ve done it all year,” said Lakeside head coach Blake Ward after the game. “So I was a little concerned what kind of energy we’d come out with, and I felt like we came out with great energy. We really had a good defensive practice yesterday. That was something I wasn’t real happy with the first two games this week, and I think our defense was big-time for us tonight.”
The junior Rams’ momentum carried over into the second half as Skylar Purifoy got a putback on the opening possession of the third.
Howard and Purifoy both added a pair of shots from the free throw line with Purifoy adding a couple more buckets near the end of the third. Howard picked up a steal, passing ahead to Russell for the easy buckey for a 39-17 lead going into the final six minutes.
Turnovers continued to plague the junior Leopards as the Lakeside full-court press began to wear on them. Grabbing a rebound, Howard went coastto-coast for another easy layup, and a 3-point play by Landen Matthews left the junior Rams with a 30-point lead. Matthews capped the match with a free throw for the victory.
“You know, (Lakeside) did a great job of spreading us out in our press,” said Malvern head coach Kendrick Smith. “We weren’t able to get any traps, and we were slow getting the rotations, so I thought we needed to get out of it and get half court. We just didn’t have very good intensity tonight, and normally I think we play harder than the other team, but their guys did a great job competing, and I felt like they played harder than our guys did tonight.
“But at the same time, I don’t
think I did a great job getting these guys prepared today. It’s been a long week, and this was our third game of the week, and I think our legs were ( tired). I think the combination of all those things: things didn’t turn out great for us tonight.”
Howard led Lakeside with 13 points, a game- high eight rebounds, two steals and one assist. Russell and Purifoy each added 12 points with Russell tallying two assists, two rebounds and a steal, and Purifoy adding six rebounds, two assists and a block. Ahmod Davis had 8 points, two rebounds, two steals and one assist, Matthews had 6 points, three steals and two rebounds and Jacob Hermosillo had 5 points, three assists, two rebounds and a block. Sam Grose added 2 points in the win.
Kealin Juniel led Malvern with 5 points and four rebounds followed by Connor Lewis with 3 points and three rebounds. Dyelon Carradine, Trevion Richardson and Vincent Winters finished with 2 points apiece. Carradine also tallied three rebounds, two assists and a steal, while Winters added four rebounds and a block.
• Lakeside’s seventh- and eighth- grade teams also took wins with the seventh- grade Rams taking a 53-6 win and the eighth-grade Rams 42-8.
Beau Brock led the seventh-grade team with 15 points while Javarious Russell had 13 points and Tucker Young added 11 points. Andy Martin led the eighth-grade Rams with 13 points followed by Sloan Hayes with 12 points.
The Junior Rams play again Monday when they host an undefeated Jacksonville team at Lakeside Athletic Complex while Malvern next plays after the Christmas break.