43
Late stretch leads Tigers
By Doug Chapin
CORTLAND
No one in the gym at Lakeview High on Tuesday night thought the game was over when visiting Howland High took a 12-2 lead in the early going. And no one considered the decision a lock when the Bulldogs opened a 49-40 advantage midway through the third period.
But when Lakeview — after Howland tied the game at 53 — established a 67-59 lead with four minutes left in the game, there may have been some doubters on the Howland side.
As is the case in most rivalry games neither side was ready to quit, and the Tigers roared back with a 13-4 finish to post a thrilling 72-71 victory. Chris Maze converted a lay-up with 11 seconds left off a great feed from Brendan Cope for the final margin.
The Tigers (11-7, 7-3 AAC) then survived a missed 10-footer by Lakeview’s Zach McDivitt and a tap-in by Anthony Franco that bounced around the rim before falling off at the buzzer.
“To escape with a victory on their senior night against a rival is big,” Howland coach Bill Bogan said. “I think it shows a little bit of a testament to our depth. We had some kids come in and step up.
“I’m really proud of these guys. We only had two returning lettermen from last year and we’re sitting here with 11 wins right now. I don’t think a lot of people outside of our locker room thought we were going to have 11 wins at this point of the year. I’m very proud of these guys, they’re doing a great job.”
Lakeview (11-8, 6-4 AAC) coach George Lanterman was equally pleased with how his team performed.
“I’m proud of our kids, obviously, with our effort,” he said. “A few breaks here and there and things would be a little bit different. I was glad to see our kids step up too tonight. They made some shots, they made some big shots, they just didn’t make the one at the end.”
Both sides were stout offensively in the non-divisional game between All-American Conference schools.
Howland, which shot 48 percent (29-of-61) was led by Cope with 22 points, John-Mark Weisman with 21, Arbie Murray with 15 and Maze with 12. Weisman also had five steals and Kenny Pozega had four steals and four assists.
Lakeview, which shot 50 percent (27-of-54), got 20 points from Louie Novakovich, 16 from McDivitt and 15 from Elijah Henderson, who also grabbed 16 rebounds. Franco added eight assists from his point guard spot.
Both coaches expressed their belief a close game late in the season can help come tournament time.
“From an experience standpoint a game like this is big for us,” Bogan said. “I liked the play of our point guard John-Mark Weisman, he’s really taken control of the team. He got us into a couple of looks we wanted to be in late in the game.”
“You’re playing a Division I team, a rivalry, and we know what kind of style they play,” Lanterman said. “We might see this kind of style in the tournament. I would hope that this game is a building block as we head into the tournament. I like to say that our season is winding up not winding down.”