Coach Josh Laney has been looking for a complete game from his Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warriors all fall and he finally got his wish Wednesday afternoon at Chattanooga Christian’s Bosworth Gymnasium.
Playing in the CCS Thanksgiving Tournament, the Warriors won their third straight game in three days without a defeat as they pinned a 67-50 defeat on the Boyd Buchanan Buccaneers.
It was a complete performance for the Warriors as they played well on both ends and had an unofficial 31-20 advantage in rebounds.
“We finally put a complete game together and I’m pretty happy about that,” Laney said after shaking hands with the Bucs following the final horn.
“I thought we played well on both ends of the court and I was proud of our team defense. We were all committed to that, but hard work is beginning to pay off. We had a bunch of guys step up today and that always makes a difference,” the young coach continued.
Perhaps the biggest difference in the game came from LFO teammates Lamichael Davis and Brent Bowman, who combined to score 57 of their team’s 67 points and grabbed 19 rebounds total.
Davis was the biggest contributor as he finished with 37 points and 13 rebounds, including 20 points in the second half.
“Those are two really great players who really challenge the rest of the guys, but they played well as usual,” the coach smiled.
The game was close for the first half of the first quarter with the score being tied three times.
A 3 from the base from Brode Johnston gave the Buccaneers their only lead at 10-9 with 4:10 left in the opening stanza. With Davis scoring six of his team’s next 10 points, the Warriors closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run and had a 19-10 lead at the first break.
Bowman canned a 3 from the wing with 3:33 to play to give LFO its biggest lead of the half at 31-15 before Boyd Buchanan scored the last six points of the half to trail by 33-21 at intermission.
The Bucs played better in the second half, but the Warriors were simply too strong as they maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game. A 19-point spread at 56-37 following a three-point play by Davis with 6:14 to play was the biggest of the game.
While LFO improved to 3-0 with its third win in three days, the Bucs are now 2-2 on the young season. Coach Josh Templeton knows that these early-season tournaments can only help his team get valuable experience for games later in the year.
“Lakeview is a really good team, but we’re getting some really good experience and that’s why we play these games like this,” Templeton began.
“I wasn’t really pleased with how we played in the first half as we got punched in the face, but I thought we did a better job in the second half and got better as the game progressed. We’re learning and growing and I really felt like we did some good stuff today. We played three really good teams this week and that will only help us later,” he added.
Davis was tops for LFO with his 37 points while Bowman was next with 20.
Ryan Lopez topped the Bucs with 11 points to match his jersey number while big Jacob Shockley was also in double figures with 10. Carter Wamack and Johnston both finished with eight points each.
LFO also had an unofficial 31-20 edge on the boards with Davis grabbing 13, Bowman six and Keenan Walker five for the Warriors. James Nolan had six rebounds for Boyd Buchanan while Lopez and Shockley both had four each.
BOYD BUCHANAN 10 11 14 15 -- 50
LAKEVIEW-FORT OGLETHORPE 19 14 16 18 -- 67
BOYD BUCHANAN (50) – C. Johnston 4, Calhoun 3, Wamack 8, Ryan Lopez 11, Jones 2, B. Johnston 8, Nolan 4, Jacob Shockley 10.
LAKEVIEW-FORT OGLETHORPE (67) – Colbert, Flanagan 4, Lamichael Davis 37, Walker, Dover, Womble, Brent Bowman 20, Cochran, Brock 2, Burnett 2, Slatton 2.
3-POINT GOALS: Boyd Buchanan 8 (Calhoun, Wamack 2, Lopez 2, B. Johnston 2, Shockley); Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 5 (Davis 3, Bowman 2).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)