Wolves clip Lakeside, improve to 10-2
Held in check for much of the first half, Lake Hamilton rode a second quarter surge to victory over crosstown rival Lakeside Friday night.
Trailing 16-14 after a basket by Lakeside’s Gavin Menotti, the Wolves closed the second quarter on a 12-0 run, pulling away for a 46-34 win at Lakeside Athletic Complex.
Lake Hamilton coach Scotty Pennington credited a defensive adjustment to a full-court press for his team’s rally at the end of the first half.
“We don’t pressure a lot, but in a game like tonight, where Lakeside struggles against pressure, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win the game,” Pennington said. “It’s always there if we need it, and we felt like we needed a little jolt. Thankfully they did turn it over and we made a big run. That was the key to the game.”
Trailing 26-16 entering the second half, the Rams were unable to trim the gap despite stifling the Wolves defensively. Lakeside held its opponent to just six points in the third quarter, but scored only six points of its own as Lake Hamilton took a 32-22 lead into the fourth quarter.
“We don’t score the ball good enough overall to be down 10 or 12,” Lakeside coach Eddie Lamb said. “Defensively, we played really good, but they did too. I think overall, they’re the best team that we’ve played. We feel like they’re the best team in the league.”
Behind seven points from junior forward Kanaan Williams, the Wolves stretched their lead to
41-24 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Rams wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Lakeside guard Patrick Davis buried two
3-pointers, and backcourt mate Sawyer Lamb connected on a shot from behind the arc as the Rams pulled within 41-33 with less than two minutes to play.
“It just tells me what kind of character we have in the locker room,” Eddie Lamb said. “There’s no give-up in this locker room. That’s the kind of mentality we have to have. We’ve just got to stay the course, and they’ve got to keep believing.”
After a foul shot by Lakeside guard Tazz Glover, Lake Hamilton’s Clyde Hill, Lane Kersey and Sabby Vinson combined to hit five of six shots from the free throw line to set the final margin.
Lake Hamilton guard Mondo Watkins scored four points in the first quarter as the Wolves opened the game on a 10-2 run. Sawyer Lamb responded with three points of his own, and Lakeside trimmed the gap to 10-6 at the end of the frame, setting the stage for a back and forth first half.
Williams led all scorers with 11 points, while Vinson and Watkins each scored nine points and Kersey finished with eight points.
“We are very balanced,” said Pennington. “There are four or five guys that are capable of double digits in scoring on any night. That makes us a littler harder to guard and a little harder to scout against. There’s not just one guy that you have to key on defensively.”
Davis paced the Rams with nine points on three shots from behind the arc. Andrew Igbodkidi and Sawyer Lamb each chipped in with eight points.
Both teams will compete in holiday tournaments after a week off. Lakeside (1-8) will face Sylvan Hills in the first round of the Chartwells Spa City Shootout on Dec. 27 at Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
In the midst of a five-game winning streak, Lake Hamilton (10-2) will host Arkadelphia in the first round of the Kameron Hale Invitational on Dec. 28 at Wolf Arena.
“This will be a good time for us to work on ourselves and what we have to do to get better,” Pennington said. “The past two or three games we haven’t really been playing well. We won all three games by double digits, but we’re not going to be able to continue to do that and beat the teams we want to beat later in the year. We’re looking forward to the next week.”