Lakewood Upsets #3 Legend 49-47

Peterson Leads all scorers with 26 points

The Lakewood Tigers won the Smoky Hill Shootout by defeating the third ranked Legend Titans Saturday at Smoky Hill High School Saturday afternoon, 49-47. The game plan was fairly simple for the Tigers play zone defense, rebound and make three’s. In fact the the Tigers made more three pointers than shots inside the arc.  Legend struggled shooting much of the day regardless of where they were shooting from including the free-throw line shooting 62%.

The game was a grinder with both teams playing their own styles of tough defense. Lakewood slowed the game down with their various zones while Legend primarily played man to man and forced the Tigers to make tough shots. Legend scored the first five points of the game then Lakewood  answered with 8 straight points of their own and wouldn’t hold the lead again until the mid way through the second quarter. Lakewood gained it’s largest lead of the quarter at the buzzer, when junior guard Kolton Peterson hit a three pointer to put the Tigers up 13-8.

Legend grabbed the lead back when senior Danny Garrick scored five points in a row to give the Titans a brief lead. Lakewood seemed a bit more patient on offense and made the extra pass resulting in open looks at the basket. Which allowed the Tigers to earn the lead by the end of the half 24-21.

The third quarter moved fairly quickly with few fouls  called and the Tigers and Titans more than content to work time off the clock. Peterson scored 8 of Lakewood’s 12 points in the quarter while Legend senior guard Monroe Porter scored six points coming at critical times to keep the Titans with in striking distance of the Tigers. After a missed Titan  shot with 1:45 left in the quarter Lakewood ran off nearly a minute before turning the ball over allowing Legend to score six points in the final 34 seconds including junior Bradley Caldwell’s put back at the buzzer to make it a two point game 36-34.

The fourth quarter was much like the first three quarters with neither team really able to get things going to put the other team away. After a scoreless minute of play to start the quarter,  Peterson hit a three pointer that started a 8-4 run for Lakewood that pushed the lead to 44-38 with 5:20 left in the game. Legend answered, this time senior Jared Small hit a three pointer to cut the lead in half which sparked an 8-0 run for the Titans and gave them a 46-44 lead with 3:05 left. Peterson then scored to baskets in 20 seconds  with a Legend free-throw in between, to give the lead back to Lakewood 48-47 with 2:19 left to play. After a free throw by Lakewood junior Brandt Christy gave the Tigers a 49-47 lead with 1:10.  This is how the game ended

The Titans got the looks they wanted but could not get the shots to fall.

Legend simply could not get going on offense and seemed satisfied with not attacking the gaps in Lakewood’s zone defense. Credit Lakewood with keeping the Titans off the offensive glass for the most part as well.

Double Digit Scorers

Lakewood

Peterson 26

Bailey 14

Legend

Porter 20

Garrick 14