Just three days removed from a 52-47 loss to Waverly, Lebo returned the favor Monday night in the first round of the Lyon County League Tournament with a 51-39 victory at White Auditorium.
In the victory, No. 3-seeded Lebo used a little bit of the same formula sixth-seeded Waverly used last Friday to score the win over the Wolves. Each time Lebo had the lead, the Wolves were content to hold the ball out on the perimeter.
Waverly coach Mike Hevel couldn’t fault the Wolves. He did the same thing on Friday.
“I would have done the same thing,” Hevel said. “On Friday, when we had the lead, we held the ball and made them foul us. I thought the difference was just opposite of what it was Friday night.”
Lebo coach Mike Barrett said the idea behind the clock-controlling offense was to soften Waverly’s 2-3 zone defense.
“We knew they were going to play that tight 2-3 zone they played against us last time,” Barrett said, “and the game plan going in was if we got up a few points, we’ll try to do what we can to loosen their zone up a bit, and that’s why we held the ball out on the perimeter some.”
When Lebo (7-3) did score, it often looked inside to its two big men, Taylor Barker and Cameron Smith. Barker finished the night with a game-high tying 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field plus two free throws, while Smith added 14 points, going 5-for-8 from the field and 4-of-8 from the charity stripe. The pair also combined for 16 rebounds.
With the 6-foot-4 Barker and the 6-foot-2 Smith holding a size advantage over Waverly (4-6), the duo burned the Bulldogs time and time again with turn-around jumpers, layups and put-backs off of misses.
Barker deflected all the praise to the Wolves’ guards, saying the play on the outside opened the inside.
“I think our guards were playing pretty good, and that takes a lot of the pressure off of us on the inside,” Barker said. “They (Waverly) were getting frustrated towards the end of the game, and that was opening things up on the inside even more.”
The game was still up for grabs at the end of the third quarter, with Lebo holding a 32-29 edge. Halfway through the fourth period, a layup by Heath Redding off a dish inside from Dentin Chapman pulled Waverly to within three at 35-32, but Barker and Smith combined for 12 points in the final 4 minutes, 22 seconds to help the Wolves pull away on a 16-7 run.
“By the end of the game, their defense was a little loose, and we were able to find some openings and got the ball inside to Taylor and Cameron,” Barrett said.
Chapman led Waverly with 18 points on six 3-pointers.
Lebo advanced to play the winner of today’s Madison-Flinthills matchup, while Waverly will await the loser of that game.
LEBO boys 51, WAVERLY 47
Waverly 12 7 10 10 — 39
Lebo 9 14 9 19 — 51
Waverly (4-6) — Redding 6, Chapman 18, Coursen 9, Fleming 2, Church 1, Hamm 1, Teal 2.
Lebo (7-3) — Jones 3, Linsey 7, Smith 14, Barker 18, Gillespie 9.
Halftime — Lebo 23-19. Total fouls — Waverly 19, Lebo 11. Fouled out — Waverly: Hamm.
Hartford boys 47,
Chase County 28
Blake Edwards scored 10 of his game-high 16 points in the second half to help lead the ninth-seeded Hartford Jaguars to a 47-28 victory over No. 8-seeded Chase County in the first round of the Lyon County League Tournament.
Edwards’ 10 second-half points led a Hartford charge that saw the Jaguars turn what was a 19-17 halftime lead into a 19-point victory. Keegan Crawford scored six points in the third quarter in which Hartford outscored Chase County, 13-7. That gave Hartford a 32-24 edge at the end of the third.
After that, it was all Jaguars. Hartford (3-7) outscored the Bulldogs, 15-4, in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach, as Hartford held Chase County (2-8) to just one field goal and two free throws in the period. In the end, Hartford made 16 shots from the field to Chase County’s six.
In addition to Edwards’ 16 points, Crawford also finished the game in double figures with 12 points.Trevor Johnson had eight points to lead Chase County, and Joey Heathman chipped in seven.
Hartford advanced to play No. 1-seeded Olpe (9-0) at 8:30 tonight. Chase County will play No. 10-seed Marais des Cygnes Valley at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
HARTFORD boys 47, CHASE COUNTY 28
Hartford 10 9 13 15 — 47
Chase County 4 13 7 4 — 28
Hartford (3-7) — Dunn 1, Ewy 2, Gardner 5, Williams 6, Edwards 16, Barrett 2, Cartee 3, Crawford 12.
Chase County (2-8) — Grokett 3, S. Talkington 3, Heathman 7, Cole 3, B. Talkington 2, Johnson 8, Glanville 2.
Halftime — Hartford 19-17. Total fouls — Hartford 12, Chase Co. 7. Fouled out — None.
Flinthills boys 61,
MdCV 55
Despite a furious rally on the shoulders of David Becker and a gritty performance from Chisom Spencer, the Marais des Cygnes Valley boys could not come back all the way from an 11-point deficit in the second half in a 61-55 loss to Flinthills in the first round of the Lyon County League Tournament.
Becker scored 16 points, 12 of which came after halftime, and Spencer came back to score six of his 12 points after he went out in the first half with a gash on his left hand. However, Flinthills’ Jeremy Jackson and the No. 7-seeded Mustangs’ pressure defense proved too be too much for the Trojans to handle.
Flinthills’ lead was as high as 11 points at 41-29 in the third quarter, but Becker scored seven consecutive points to help close the lead to 41-36.
Jackson then hit back, as he hit consecutive layups off of steals at midcourt to push the lead back out to 45-36. In the third quarter alone, the speedy Jackson scored 11 of his game-high 21 points.
Marais des Cygnes Valley, the 10th seed, hung around for the rest of the third quarter and late into the fourth, and even closed to within four at 56-52 with 1:07 left when Dennis Becker scored on a put-back.
However, Flinthills (4-6) hit 6 of 7 free throws down the stretch to keep Marais des Cygnes Valley (1-9) at bay.
Flinthills’ Nate Nelson and Jimmy Michal chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Dennis Becker added 12 points for the Trojans to join Spencer and David Becker in double figures.
Flinthills will next play second-seeded Madison (8-1) at 5:30 tonight. Marais des Cygnes Valley will play Chase County at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
FLINTHILLS boys 61, MdCV 55
Flinthills 19 11 21 10 — 61
MdCV 15 12 14 14 — 55
Flinthills (4-6) — Jackson 21, Womacks 2, Nelson 13, Wogt 9, Michal 10, Riemann 6.
MdCV (1-9) — Spencer 12, Phillips 2, Litch 5, Woodruff 8, De. Becker 12, Da. Becker 16.
Halftime — Flinthills 30-27. Total fouls — Flinthills 13, MdCV 13. Fouled out — None.