Share and share alike: Lakeview handles East

By BOB ETTINGER

sports @vindy.com

CORTLAND

Lakeview senior Daniel Evans and his Lakeview teammates have figured out a way not only to maximize their individual talents, but their talent as a team, as well. Any number of teams can claim that, but what makes the Bulldogs different is that the individual matters little so long as the team finds success, as it did in a 74-50 victory over East at home on Friday night.

“The kids really share the ball,” Lakeview coach Ryan Fitch said. “We talked about dribbling less and passing more. We executed well tonight.”

The Bulldogs (7-1) assisted one another on 24 of their 30 buckets in knocking down 60.8 percent (30 of 51) of their attempts from the field.

“As a team, we know we’re at our best when we move the ball like that,” Evans said. “The chemistry we have is unlike anything teams who play against us have seen. We truly don’t care who scores as long as Lakeview gets a win in the end.”

Led by A.J. McClellan’s six assists, Lakeview had five players with at least three, including Carter Huff (5), Jeff Remmick (5), Clay Lazzari (4) and Evans (3).

Lakeview used runs of 8-0 and 10-0 in the first quarter and 20-4 in the second to take a 46-18 lead at the half. Evans had scored 17 of his 22 in points in those first 16 minutes.

“The first have, I was definitely feeling it,” Evans said. “Then the second half came and we had to slow it down and be patient, but I was definitely feeling it.”

East (0-8) struggled from the field (20 of 67, 29.9 percent) and couldn’t rebound enough to help themselves on the offensive end in getting beat, 46-30, overall in rebounds.

“We’re just not comfortable playing offense,” East coach Kevin Cylar said. “We have some shooters, but we don’t have great ball handlers or guys who can get to the basket. We’ve got to get more comfortable on offense. I think the big thing was rebounding. If we miss those shots, we’ve got to go get the ball. We have to get two shots per possession to beat anybody. We just don’t have that type of firepower.”

Evans led the Bulldogs with 22 points, McClellan had 12, Remmick nine and Brendon Kilpatrick and Dawson Brown each chipped in with eight.

Marquan Gilmer led the Golden Bears with 16 points and Damico Jackson added 12.