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LeBron leads Campbell
Red Devils hold off Lakeview’s late surge
By Tom Williams
CAMPBELL
In at least one Northeast Ohio town, LeBron remains a popular name with basketball fans.
Campbell Memorial High guard Claxton LeBron scored 17 points, including four crucial free throws in the fourth quarter, in Friday’s 49-41 season-opening victory against stubborn Lakeview.
Trailing 26-18 at halftime, the Bulldogs (0-1) ignited in the third quarter behind Elliot Metheny, posting a 13-6 run to shave the Red Devils’ lead to one point.
The Red Devils (1-0) didn’t flinch, making all 12 of their free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to post the victory.
“Twelve for 12,” asked Campbell coach Brian Danilov. “I’ll take that. That foul line is so darn important.”
LeBron, one of the Red Devils’ football players, made four free throws down the stretch while Ty Underwood made six and Richard Bledsoe two.
“Last year in a couple of games, even in our district championship game, we shot horrendous from the foul line and it cost us,” Danilov said. “I compare it to putting. Sometimes it looks really big and other times you can’t draw water from the middle of a boat in the Pacific.”
LeBron said they were following orders.
“Our coach tells us to never give up and that’s what we do,” said LeBron who also had four rebounds. “We kept playing together as a team and we had each other’s backs.”
Lakeview coach George Lanterman knew his players would need to defend well to keep his players’ hopes alive.
“We hang our hat on our defense,” Lanterman said. “If we could keep [the score] in the 40s, I knew that we’d have a shot. Coming to Campbell, playing Coach Danilov’s team, it’s always a tough game here.“
Because of their schools’ football postseasons, both squads had late starts working with everyone participating.
“It’s tough,” said LeBron of shifting gears to basketball. “We go through a lot of adversity so [this win] felt real good, yes it did.”
Metheny scored seven of his 15 points during the Bulldogs’ third-quarter run to get back into the game.
“He’s a two-year starter and we expect big things from Elliott,” Lanterman said. “It was nice to see him step up.
“Elliot worked hard over the summer time,” Lanterman added. “It was nice to see him have a good quarter and be our leader.”
Lanterman said the Bulldogs showed confidence despite the eight-point deficit at halftime.
“I thought we came out with a real good mental attitude to start the second half, knowing that we would make the run,” Lanterman said. “They really believed in themselves.”
Underwood finished with 13 points.
Danilov said it takes a while to get the rust shaken off.
“Like I told [his players], sometimes things are gonna go real smooth and we’re gonna feel good about things,” Danilov said. “And other times, we’re going to look like pigs on ice skates — it’s going to look ugly.
“And we’ve got to learn how to handle adversity,” Danilov added. “Lakeview does a great job, they test you right out of the gate. They’re tough, they anticipate so well, they execute so well.”
Next up for both squads are big tests. On Tuesday, Campbell will be home against Boardman while Lakeview will host Poland.