Laker Jack Lesure hashed 26 points – this, despite being held scoreless through the first quarter – in his team’s bout at Yarmouth on Tuesday the 8th, but 26, it turned out, wasn’t enough. Lesure, determined, even put up 17 in the fourth quarter alone, and still the Clippers emerged victorious in the end, 72-68.
The scoring seesawed; down by 10 in the waning minutes, Lake Region displayed commendable grit, as head coach John Mayo noted.
“This is a tough group,” Mayo said. “They don’t like to lose and they get after it when they need to. Good focus at the end, to make it one possession at a time.”
The first quarter unfolded tightly, and culminated in a 15-12 Yarmouth advantage. The second quarter belonged to Lake Region: Tyler Walker kicked off the stretch with a two, and Marcus DeVoe followed him with another. In those eight minutes, the Lakers tallied 20 points – Lesure earned eight – while holding the Clippers to just 10.
“We ran the ball like we did, they pushed the ball, we got inside,” said Mayo, when asked what allowed his boys to get up 32-25 at the half. “We made our layups, we rebounded well; we played with confidence.”
On the other hand, the third belonged to Yarmouth, and in a big way. Nate Smith produced the majority of the Lakers’ output – a meager five points – in that time. Lesure managed just one, and the team as a whole added only 10. Meanwhile, the Clippers amassed 23 for a 48-42 lead.
“[Yarmouth] offensive-rebounded better,” said Mayo, of what changed after the break. “We didn’t rebound to run our stuff, so the game gets tight, people get a little tighter.”
The tension ratcheted up another notch in the fourth. Lake Region needed to mount a comeback – and they nearly did.
Lesure began the quarter with a pair from the line; the Clippers then added six before Lesure knocked down two more frees and another two. A pair of Smith twos (one on a feed from Alex Langadas, the other on a feed from DeVoe) led into a further bevy of Lesure buckets.
Lesure tallied two, four from the line, then a plain-old two from the field. Smith dropped a three inside the last minute to slash the Clippers’ lead to 68-63.
Moments later, Yarmouth’s Devin Shields-Auble tumbled out of bounds with the ball, turning it over, and Lesure more than made up for an earlier miss with a sink that drew the foul. He nailed the free.
With 10.1 seconds to play, Lesure was forced to foul Clipper Musseit M’Bareck, who drained his two frees. 70-66, and the Clippers called time-out.
Lake Region possessed when play resumed. Their inbounds throw from one end of the court to the other found Alex Langadas, who laid the ball in for 68-70.
3.7 seconds to go, and Mayo’s turn to call time. Alas, when the action kicked back in, the Lakers had to foul yet again, and Shields-Auble made both his frees. Lake Region simply ran out of time; 72-68 the final.
“It’s a game of runs,” Mayo said. “If you looked at that game, especially in the second half. They got up a little, we came back…we got up a little, they came back.”
In addition to Lesure’s 26, Smith had 21. DeVoe contributed seven, Langadas and Brandon Palmer four apiece, and Nick Wandishin, Ryan Hodgdon and Walker two each.
Lake Region moves to 1-1 on the season. The Lakers opened their schedule on Saturday, Dec. 5, with a 61-41 win over visiting Wells; they travel to Lincoln on Friday the 11th.
Yarmouth, meanwhile, improve to 2-0. The Clippers kicked off 2015-16 with a 69-47 W at Gray-New Gloucester on Saturday the 5th. They visit Waynflete this Friday.
Laker Nate Smith pushes into the paint on his way to the basket.
Tyler Walker circles in low for the Lakers.
The Lakers’ Jack Lesure ascends to the basket, harangued by Yarmouth’s Nolan Hagerty.
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