Saturday, January 26, 2008
His 10-foot shot pushed the Bulldogs past rival
Champion, 54-52.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CHAMPION — Joel Davis sank a 10-foot shot with less than two seconds remaining as Lakeview High defeated rival Champion, 54-52, Friday night in a Trumbull Athletic Conference boys basketball game.
Davis grabbed the long rebound of Jon Kittle’s 3-point attempt and calmly sank the winning shot. A long 3-point effort by the Golden Flashes’ Joe Cvengros was off the mark as the buzzer sounded.
“This is a big rivalry game,” Lakeview coach George Lanterman said. “When these two teams play, records don’t count, the time of the year doesn’t count, it’s just a nice backyard brawl kind of atmosphere.
“I’m really happy for my seniors, because this was their last time to come over here. I thought Jon Kittle stepped up, he made some big free throws and some shots. Greg McCumber took over the boards and Dan Whaley grabbed some key rebounds there at the end. I’m really proud of those three seniors, just how they kind of gutted it out. They are great leaders, and our juniors followed. Joel hits the game-winning shot, Robert Franks hits a big three in the corner.”
Franks was outstanding for Lakeview (9-5, 6-2 TAC) with 19 points, four rebounds and four steals. Kittle added 10 points, Greg McCumber had eight points and eight rebounds, and Davis recorded seven points and four assists. Ethan Metheny came off the bench to add six points and four rebounds.
“Give the Champion kids credit, give our kids credit,” Lanterman said. “It was just a battle back and forth the whole time.”
Cvengros topped all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting for Champion (10-4, 4-4 TAC). Sean Sumner added eight points, Markel Vaughn had five assists and Caleb Wright grabbed seven rebounds.
“Rebounding and foul shots, that’s what it came down to,” Champion coach Dan Bubon said. “We didn’t make enough foul shots and we didn’t get the rebounds we had to get. I thought we made a great comeback, after doing a lot of things poorly to fall behind. At the end of a game like that it’s loose balls, it’s foul shots, it’s rebounds, and it’s getting a call here or there.”
Champion got off to a quick start and led 11-7 after one quarter. Lakeview caught up at 13-13 and went on to a 27-19 halftime lead. The Bulldogs scored the first bucket of the second half for a 10-point lead, the largest of the game. The Flashes gradually worked their way back, pulling to within 44-40 at the end of the third period.
Lakeview’s 20-8 advantage in the second period was achieved partly through a switch to a zone defense against the Flashes.
‘We were very tentative,” Bubon said about his team’s offense in the second quarter. “We talked about attacking, attacking, attacking, and we did earlier in the game. Then they went to the zone and it totally slowed us down. We never got into our offense fast enough. I thought we had to take 60 shots to win. When we take 60 shots we play well, when our shots are in the 40s it’s too slow. Lakeview did a good job playing defense, we needed to do a better job playing offense.”
Champion was 17-for-42 (40 percent). Lakeview shot 43 percent (21-for-49).
A three-point play by Sumner with 5:24 left in the game gave Champion its first lead, 48-47, since the second quarter. Kittle’s two free throws at the 4:06 mark put the Bulldogs back in front, then Cvengros made two out of three after being fouled on a 3-point shot at the 1:43 mark.
Franks drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:18 to play and Lakeview led 52-50, then Sumner was called for charging at the other end on a drive to the basket. Vaughn stole the ball, but made just one of two free throws with 58 seconds remaining. Kittle missed the front end of a one-and-one, then Sumner tied the game with 43 seconds to play by making one of two free throws. Lakeview then ran the clock down for the decisive play.
“We got the look we wanted, Jon Kittle at the top of the key,” Lanterman said. “We always preach crash, crash, crash, and we did. Joel was there, he got the rebound and put it right up, just like we drill.”