Fast start propels Lebo
Brandon Schneeberger, Special to the Gazette
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday’s Lyon County League semifinal game got off to a fast paced start and continued that way for the Lebo Wolves as they cruised to a 46-34 win over Waverly. It was only the second time the Bulldogs have lost this season.
The No. 3 seed Wolves came out motivated and they did not let up by keeping the intensity level high throughout the game.
“I told the guys we’re playing two championship games,” said Lebo coach Kurt Bangle. “We got to play them back-to-back, so we had to play really hard, focus, and give good energy.”
Now Lebo has a date with Madison in the boys championship game. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m. tonight at White Auditorium.
In the first four minutes of the game it was all Lebo as it opened up a 9-0 lead to start the game. The second-seeded Bulldogs countered, however, cutting the lead to six points before Thadd Barker scored with three seconds remaining in the quarter to give the Wolves a 13-5 lead.
Lebo (9-3) continued from where it left off in the second quarter with a 12-2 run to open things up before Waverly (12-2) scored five straight to close the half.
After Waverly switched to a zone defense, Lebo’s Trevor White went to work, scoring five straight including his second three of the half for Lebo.
“(Barker and White) stepped in,” Bangle said. “Thadd’s been playing consistent all year for us, keeping the ball inside… (Trevor) stepped up big in a big game. It’s one of those games where we found two hot guys that were hot, and we just went to them. We’ve got a couple other guys that can step in and do something like that, but tonight it was those two.”
On the other side of the ball, the Wolves defensive intensity controlled the game, holding Waverly to just 12 points in the half.
“I think (Waverly is) averaging above 60 points a game,” Bangle said. “And we flat out knew that if we were going to win we absolutely have to play defense, get our stops, because we won’t be able to win in a shootout with Waverly. Defense was the key that we had to win with.”
In the third quarter of play the Wolves remained in control. Lebo extended the lead to 16 points as Barker scored eight in the quarter. The fourth quarter saw the Wolves stretch the lead to 19 and they cruised to a 12 point victory.
The defense kept the Waverly scorers in check as they had three players with six points apiece. Ian Steward had a team-high seven points for the Bulldogs. Lebo had just five players score in the game as Barker and White scored 16 points apiece, accounting for 32 of the 46 points.
Friday at White Auditorium
Lebo 13 12 13 8 — 46
Waverly 5 7 10 12 — 34
LEB: A. Holmes 8, Robke 5, Barker 16, White 16, Weiss 1.
WAV: Sipe 4, Steward 7, Good 6, Stroman 6, Fleming 6, Tyson 5.