Laflin’s 30 help Lebo crush Madison
Josh Slaughter, Special to The Gazette
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Lebo Wolves knew coming into the season that they needed to work on defense and free throw shooting. All the preseason work paid off, as they used excellent shooting at the charity stripe and stifling defense to earn a 69--37 win over the Madison Bulldogs.
The LHS offense fired on all cylinders, shooting 45.9 percent from the field, while their defense, which allowed only four points in the first and fourth quarters, held MHS to only 23.6 percent shooting.
“We’re trying to play pretty good man-to-man defense,” said Lebo head coach Doug Piper. “We’re trying to keep them playing the whole court, our press got to them a little bit. Not that we got a lot of steals or anything, but we forced them to handle the ball a lot.”
Lebo also took care of business on the glass, outrebounding the Bulldogs 38 to 21 on the evening. But the game really came down to the Wolves’ performance at the free throw line. They hit 31-of-40 shots from the free throw line, good for 77.5 percent on the night. Madison struggled at the line, making only 9-of-18 shots and shooting 50.0 percent on the evening.
“From day one, we have really worked on free throws. That’s something we’ve really worked on,” said Piper. “Every day when we run, the first thing we do is shoot free throws, which is an old adage for coaches. The work really seems to be paying off for us. It was one of those lucky things where we got to the line and made them.”
Things started out rocky for Madison, as Lebo employed their pressure defense early. They held MHS to only four points in the first quarter. The strong defensive pressure also only allowed four points in the fourth quarter for the Bulldogs.
Madison was looking to wake up after a strong postseason push in football, which both coaches say may have played a part.
“This (Madison) team was coming off a great football season,” said Piper. “Yes, they are going to get a lot better, they are so strong and so physical. They are really just now getting into the swing of things coming off of that football season. They’ll be better next week, they are just going to get better and better and better.”
“We learned a lot tonight. I told the men we have to play 32 minutes,” said Madison head coach Alan Brown. “I thought Lebo came out and played very well. They were on their game and we came out flat and just didn’t move our feet like we should. I told the young men in the locker room tonight to remember this feeling and that we will learn and grow from every situation. Most of the football jitters and stuff is just about out of our system and stuff, but we know we just didn’t play the way we were capable tonight.”
For Lebo’s Adam Laflin, it was nothing short of a career night. The 6-4 senior scored 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting and pulled down a game high eight rebounds. He also got to the foul line a game-high 12 times, making nine of those shots. He was joined in double figures by teammate Devon Johnston, who scored 13 points and pulled down six defensive boards.
“I saw some holes in the defense and I just took the ball to the hole,” said Laflin. “Everybody sees that we beat a good team, and this shows that we can play.”
Piper attributed Laflin’s 30 points to the great play of his teammates on both sides of the ball.
“One of the things he did tonight that he didn’t do last night was he played within himself,” said Piper. “Instead of trying to take over things he looked for what the defense gave him, he looked for holes and he picked his holes. His teammates did a great job of giving him the ball when he was open, and getting out of his way when he was driving. Even though he had 30 points, you can contribute some of those points to the kids around him who did a good job of getting him the ball.”
For Madison, Reece Childers was the only player in double figures, scoring 11 points. Michael Luthi and Henry Ott each added nine. Luthi was the Bulldogs’ leading rebounder with seven.
Lebo moved to 2-0 on the season after knocking off Hartford on Thursday night and will play White City tomorrow night to close out their preseason round-robin tournament.
“I think we just need to keep playing as a team and keep playing defense and just working for it,” said Johnstone.
Lebo 69, Madison 37
Madison 4 18 11 4 37
Lebo 22 17 14 16 69
Madison (1-1) — Luthi 4-10 1-2 9, Caleb Hamilton 1-6 1-2 3, Garrett Damron 0-3 0-3 0, Wade Elwood 0-5 1-2 1, Josh Buster 1-4 0-1 2, Kale Schankie 0-4 0-0 0, Childers 3-11 4-6 11, Ott 4-12 0-0 9, Kole Schankie 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 13-55 9-18 37.
Lebo (2-0) — Alex Linsey 0-1 2-2 2, Brent Gould 0-2 4-6 4, Trevor White 2-2 4-4 6, Johnston 2-9 6-8 13, Calvin Perry 0-5 5-6 5, Laflin 10-14 9-12 30, Thadd Barker 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Smith 2-3 1-2 4. Totals 17-37 31-40 69.
3-point goals — Madison (Childers 1-4, Ott 1-4), Lebo 2-4 (Laflin 1-1, Johnston 1-2). Rebounds — Madison 21 (Luthi 7, Damron 5, Kale Schankie 4), Lebo 38 (Laflin 8, Smith 7, Perry 7, Gould 6, Johnston 6). Total fouls — Madison 32, Lebo 20. Fouled out — Luthi, Elwood, Kale Schankie.
Madison girls 65, Lebo 51
The Madison Lady Bulldogs won a game that was comprised of streaky play by both teams. Madison played strong defense early, as neither team scored until three minutes into the game. However, once shots started falling, it was Lebo who took the early lead, outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 12-9 in the first frame.
As the second half began, it looked as though Lebo would start putting things away. With MHS leading 13-12, Lebo used a 9-3 run to gain their biggest advantage of the evening and at one point led by as much as ten. Madison used a 9-0 run at the end of the half to tie the game and make things all square at 26 at the break.
Chelcie Schankie scored nine of her 12 points in the first half, while the Lady Bulldogs were led by Shelby Buster in the first half with 10 points. Lebo was paced by Morgan Laflin who scored six points in the first half.
In the second half, Madison continued their run, going for six straight points and extending their run to 15 points. Lebo answered right back with a 5-0 run of their own, but would never get any closer, as Madison took a 47-35 lead into the final quarter. MHS was paced by Morgan Stout, who scored 14 points in the third quarter.
“She really stepped up when she needed to tonight,” said Madison coach Glen Stout. “We switched around our offense to kind of key on Morgan and Shelby and see if we could break things up a little bit. She did a good job reading the defense and executing the offense when she had to.”
Buster added eight more points in the final frame as MHS outscored LHS 18-16 to cruise to the victory. Buster led Madison with 22 for the game and was joined in double figures by Stout with 19 and Schankie with 12. Taylor Miller and Laflin scored 10 points each to lead Lebo.
“It’s a good feeling to go play hard,” Stout said. “We played good defense all night and we struggled early with our offense, but we fought through it and really played a good ballgame. We put in a new offense and we were trying to run the new offense, but we’re going to have to fight through it.”
Madison 65, Lebo 51
Madison 9 17 21 18 — 65
Lebo 12 14 9 16 — 51
Madison (2-0) — Kylie Olson 3, Schankie 12, Stout 19, Molly Ballard 6, Buster 22, Tera Titus 3.
Lebo (1-1) — Brittany Hase 5, Deidra Jones 3, Miller 10, Lauren Schlesener 8, Morgan Tastove 8, Taylor Milota 2, Morgan Laflin 10, Jessica Robertson 5.