Bulldogs repel Rams in Classic, 47-35

Three days after losing to White Hall on the road, Lakeside fared no better Monday night at home.

White Hall's Quentin Urquhart and Devin Koonce combined for 24 points, leading the Bulldogs to a 47-35 win in the Lakeside Classic tournament at Lakeside Athletic Complex.

"The thing we're trying to focus on right now is improving confidence; I feel like they were just beat down so bad psychologically last year," Lakeside coach Eddie Lamb said. "I firmly believe that we're giving maximum effort. We're competing and playing as hard as anybody in the state right now."

Trailing 25-16 at the half, the Rams opened the third quarter with two three-pointers from Patrick Davis and one from Tazz Glover to trim the gap to 25-29.

After a basket by Koonce, Lakeside missed four straight free throws to end the period, giving White Hall a 31-25 lead entering the final frame.

"Free throws are one of those things that we've been telling them, you can stay an extra 15 minutes after practice and work on those," said Lamb. "They're not a bad basketball team, but we've got to make them believe that. We're continuing to encourage them because they can make free throws, and they can make shots."

A quick score by Sawyer Lamb had the Rams within 31-27 early in the fourth before the Bulldogs pulled away. Urquhart and Tylin Walker combined for 10 points down the stretch as White Hall stretched its lead to 39-28 before coasting to victory.

"We had better ball movement and better looks overall, but four or five possessions in a row, we're not able to do it," Eddie Lamb said. "If we can get that consistency down and keep playing the kind of defense we're playing, we'll continue to improve."

A three-pointer by Josh Villano gave Lakeside an early 7-6 advantage in the first quarter, but Zavion Jackson scored six points to give the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead.

Sawyer Lamb's seven points, including a trey, trimmed White Hall's lead to 19-16 midway through the second before Urquhart converted on an and-one as the Bulldogs settled with a 25-16 halftime lead.

Urquhart led all scorers with 13 points while Koonce finished with 11 and Jackson scored nine. Sawyer Lamb paced the Rams with 11 points and Glover chipped in with eight.

Lakeside (0-4) travels to Texarkana Dec. 1 before hosting crosstown rival Hot Springs on Dec. 5 at Lakeside Athletic Complex.

"We're going to enjoy time with our families, but then we're going to come back and really grind it out for some good practices," said Eddie Lamb. "We need all the time we can get right now, and the kids are really putting good time in the gym."

Girls

Locked in a low-scoring battle with Jessieville, the Lakeside Lady Rams turned to their senior leader with the game on the line Monday night.

Trailing 28-27 with five seconds remaining, Thea Rice went to the line for two free throws and a chance to give Lakeside the lead.

The senior buried both shots, and Jessieville's potential game-winner came up short as the Lady Rams escaped with a 29-28 win in the Lakeside Classic tournament.

"That's just Thea being Thea; we would want her to be there in that situation," Lakeside coach Chris Brock said. "She's just played so much basketball and competed at such a high level, that situation is not going to bother her. She's just going to shoot them like she regularly does, and more times than not, she's going to come through."

On the strength of its defense and rebounding, Jessieville led by as much as six in the second quarter, settling with a 15-13 halftime lead after baskets by Rice and Lindsey Davis.

"I'm big on defense, and we talked about our defense before the game," Jessieville coach Magen Scrivner said. "I felt like with the scoring threats that they have, man-to-man is what we needed to do. We couldn't have played any better defensively than we did. We missed some rebounds, but we were very solid on defense."

Makayla Wilson gave the Lady Lions an 18-15 lead midway through the third quarter, but Lakeside refused to back down. Held in check for much of the game, Ashton Patrick converted on two straight shots from behind the arc, giving the Lady Rams a 21-18 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

"We really feed off of her; when she makes shots like that, it really picks us up as a team," said Brock. "They defended us really well, but we were finally able to get her free for a couple, and it was a big swing for us."

Lakeside stretched its lead to 24-18 early in the fourth before Jessieville's Lilliana Fehrenbacher heated up. The sophomore scored eight straight points, giving the Lady Lions a 28-27 advantage before Rice's pivotal shots from the charity stripe.

"She stepped up big tonight," Scrivner said. "I've been talking with her since the beginning of the season about stepping up, because she's a scoring threat. She can shoot the jumper, she can rebound and she's becoming more experienced with each game. She's a player."

Jessieville (0-3) travels to Gurdon Nov. 28 while Lakeside (4-0) faces Junction City on Saturday.

"I thought it was good that we got tested, but we've got to go back to work and keep getting better," said Brock. "We've got to stop listening to everybody telling us how good we are, and just get better."

Sports on 11/22/2017

Upcoming Events