43
Howland drops close game to Lakeside
By ERIC FORTUNE
HOWLAND
For the Lakeside Dragons and the Howland Tigers, their seasons have been defined by near losses that could have flipped their records.
The Tigers have six losses by six points or less while the Dragons have three losses by a total of four points.
It only seemed fitting that these two teams would play another close matchup.
This time, the Lakeside Dragons were on the right side of a close game as they survived some late game heroics from Howland to squeak by with a 75-71 win.
“These poor kids deserve so much better in the ways we’ve lost games this year to make that comeback and take the lead,” Howland coach Dan Bubon said.
After an even first half where, the Dragons (8-14, 4-8) held a slim 33-30 lead. The Tigers (7-15, 2-10) had some early success attacking the man-to-man defense the Dragons ran in the first quarter.
Then Lakeside went to zone and things went south for Howland.
“We played man in that first quarter and we played terrible defensively,” Lakeside coach Robert Pisano said. “Nineteen points, that’s a disgrace. We went zone. That was our big difference. We didn’t want to force threes. We have the size advantage. Our guys pretty much executed that for the next two quarters.”
Isaiah Mathers exploded in the third quarter scoring 14 of his game high 33 points. Nate Leventis led the Tigers with 16 points.
“He played unbelievable,” Pisano said. “We had been stressing to just push the ball at them whether they score or not and try to get down there before the defense was set.
“He’s been picking his spots where he’s penetrating and getting to the basket. I think that is helping him get open for spot up threes because he’s not settling for the spot up threes.”
Lakeside opened the quarter on a 12-2 run pushing their advantage out to double digits before a Mike Massucci 3 and a free throw from Samari Dean stopped the bleeding briefly.
From there, the Dragons opened up as much as a 19 point advantage after a Mathers three.
Trailing by 59-44 heading into the final quarter, the Tigers played loose. It was something Bubon wanted them to play all game.
“We knew if they played man, we could run on them and get shots,” Bubon said. “He went to a zone and honestly no one has played a zone in over a month. It took us a while to get comfortable. Once we did, the fourth quarter showed why teams don’t play us zone because they spread you out and we can shoot. We just weren’t doing it in the third quarter.”
Howland started to chip away at the lead and got it back within single digits, 68-59, at the 3:26 mark. Less than a minute later it was a five point game and finally it was all netted at 68 after Conner Tamarkin made a pair of free throws with 1:53 left.
The Dragons took the lead back by two only for Leventis to give the Tigers their first lead since the second quarter as his three made it 71-70.