Lake Region 48
Cape Elizabeth 60
The final score of Friday night’s Cape Elizabeth-Lake Region boys basketball game doesn’t tell the whole story.
Sure, the Capers beat the Lakers at home by 12, 60-48, but the Lakers gave the Capers all they could handle, battling back from several large deficits to keep the game close until late in the fourth quarter.
Both teams started out the game having some trouble finding the hoop. Cape got its first points of the game when junior forward Alex Bowe found senior guard Woody Tabery under the hoop about 1:30 into the game. Tabery, who finished with six points in the game, hit a nice reverse layup to put Cape on the board.
About three minutes later, the Lakers took a 6-4 lead when Philip Leighton hit a driving layup for two of his game-high 23 points.
However, that lead was short-lived, on the next possession, Cape’s Tom Ray (nine points) sunk two free throws to even the score at six.
Cape took the lead for good with just over 2:30 left in the first quarter when junior forward Connor Lawler (seven points) hit a jumper in the paint.
The Capers began to pull away in the second quarter, increasing their lead to 18-9 when sophomore forward Andrew Dickey (who had a team-high 18 points) made a nice steal and converted the fast-break layup.
The Lakers missed a big opportunity just seconds later when senior forward Jake Moore (seven points) hit a running layup after being fouled, Moore missed the free throw, and the score remained at 20-12 in favor of the Capers.
After the Capers increased their lead to 27-12, the Lakers, refusing to give up, began to chip away at the lead. With 2:23 left to go in the first half, sophomore forward Matt Langadas (10 points) hit a huge three-pointer to cut the Capers’ lead to 27-20.
After both teams exchanged hoops, the Lakers cut the lead to five when Leighton hit a jumper to make the score 31-26, which is the way the half ended.
After the break, the Capers began to increase their lead again. Two free throws from Ray with 6:47 left in the quarter gave the Capers a 25-26 lead. Then, about two minutes later, after the Lakers had missed a couple of three-point attempts, Bowe drained a huge three to increase the Cape lead to 12, 38-26.
But the Lakers refused to give in. Employing a full-court press, they ratcheted up the pressure on the Capers and began to cut into the lead again.
With 1:49 left in the third, Langadas drove the lane, hitting a shot as he was fouled. He hit the free throw to complete the three-point play, and the Cape lead was 40-31.
On the next possession, the Lakers caught another break. Langadas picked off a pass and got the ball to Leighton, who hit a layup in the paint to cut the lead to 40-33. With under a minute left in the quarter, Leighton cut the Cape lead to five when he hit from the corner to make the score 40-35.
The Lakers kept up the pressure in the fourth quarter, cutting the Cape lead to 43-37 on a Leighton jumper with 5:29 left.
With the score getting closer, Cape sophomore Conor Moloney came up huge. Moloney got his only points of the game with under 5:30 left when he hit a big three-pointer from the corner to increase Cape’s lead to 46-37.
That three put the final nail in the coffin for the Lakers, who despite a valiant effort in the closing minutes of the game, were unable to get any closer than seven, and Cape won by a final score of 60-48.
The Lakers are now off until Jan. 3 when they will be taking on Wells at home. The Capers’ next game is also Jan. 3 when they travel to Poland.
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