GLIDING TO THE RIM FOR TWO is Marcus DeVoe during last Friday's game against Greely. (Rivet Photo)

By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

As Laker players left the gym with smiles on their faces after a 20-point victory over Greely, Coach J.P. Yorkey summed up the evening saying, “We wanted to be the bully tonight and attack. Tonight, we showed what we can be.”

The Lakers dominated both ends of the court, limiting the Rangers to just single digits over the first three quarters, and a contesting LR defense held Greely to just 26% shooting from the field.

“It was our best game of the year at both ends. It was really good because we had a whole week of practice. It was the first time this season that we had a stretch to fix things that needed to be fixed,” Coach Yorkey said. “We were really busy over Christmas with tournament games and a couple of makeup games. We didn’t have much time to practice, so this was a big week for us.”

One of the items fixed was being aggressive offensively, “pushing the ball up the court and not walking it up,” the coach said. “We were aggressive off the catch and shot well.”

Guard Jackson Lesure paced a balanced attack with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Nathan Smith chipped in 12 points and Quinn Piland netted 11.

The Lakers started quick as Lesure scored six straight points, including 4-of-4 from the foul line, to propel the home team to a 10-5 lead.

Reserve Brandon Palmer knocked down a three-pointer and Tyler Walker sank a baseline shot over a taller Greely defender with 2.3 seconds left to push the Laker lead to 15-7.

While the Rangers struggled against an active Laker defense (5-of-22 from the field in the first half), the Lakers were on the mark as Lesure connected on two three-pointers and Alex Langadas worked out of a double team in the low post to find Smith alone behind the arc, and the LR junior drained a trey as the Lakers enjoyed a 30-16 lead at the break.

There was no let down in the team’s intensity, especially on the defensive side as the Lakers stifled the Rangers, allowing just a three-pointer with 2:16 left in the third quarter as Greely scored just four points.

“We were able to change our defenses seamlessly,” said Coach Yorkey, whose club held Greely to just 1-of-7 shooting in the third. “The kids really enjoy playing that press and they have become good at it. They made some great reads. We did a good job of keeping them off balanced.”

As Greely’s starters tired in the fourth, Coach Yorkey’s ability to go deep into his bench really showed as the Lakers put up 19 points in the final quarter as six different players scored, including Palmer who came up with a steal and raced down the court for an uncontested layup.

“Something we have worked hard at all season is to expand our depth, getting kids to feel comfortable. Tonight, when we rotated kids into the game we didn’t miss a beat,” the coach said. “And, we’ve had different starting lineups due to various circumstances, so we now have seven or eight kids that are comfortable in that role, as well.”

Beating perennial power Greely by 20 is something Lake Region has rarely enjoyed, but as this edition seemingly is putting it all together down the home stretch, Coach Yorkey hopes his team is ready to show the entire conference what it is really capable of.

Stat sheet: Other LR scorers were Marcus DeVoe 6, Brandon Palmer 5, Tyler Walker 4 and Alex Langadas 2. Nick Wandishin hauled down 6 rebounds for the Lakers.

Greely’s Matt McDevitt was high scorer with 17 points. The Rangers fell to 7-6.

FT: Lakers 7-9, GRE 10-14

FG: Lakers 22-of-42, GRE 10-of-38

Rebounds: LR 25, GRE 17

Turnovers: LR 9, GRE 14

Other action: Quinn Piland scored 14 points Monday night to lead the Lakers to a 61-48 victory at Kennebunk.

For the Lakers, it was their 10th victory of the season.

Down 15-13 after a quarter, the Lakers stormed ahead with a 20-7 run. But, the Rams closed the gap in third to make it a five-point game.

After a quiet three quarters, Jackson Lesure helped the Lakers seal the deal by scoring all 12 of his points in a 21-13 spurt.

For the Lakers, Nick Wandishin chipped in 10 points, Marcus DeVoe 8, Alex Langadas 6, Nate Smith 6, Nick Hall 3 and Tyler Walker 2.

Heal Watch: At 10-4, the Lakers are ranked third in Class B West, just two tourney index points behind Morse (10-3) and five points back of top-ranked Yarmouth (11-3).

What’s left: The Lakers will get a shot to move up in the Heals with a road trip to Yarmouth this Friday at 7 p.m. The schedule also includes a visit to Poland on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.; and a home game to close out the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 5 against York at 7 p.m.