By Wayne E. Rivet
Staff Writer
J.P. Yorkey liked what he saw for 30 minutes at York Friday night.
His club was focused, and played the brand of basketball he expects his Lakers are capable of on a nightly basis.
“Our team played a great game overall. We jumped out to an 18-7 lead in the first quarter and won the next two periods as well, building a 21-point lead with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter,” Coach Yorkey said.
Nate Smith scored 15 points while Quinn Piland added 14 and Nick Hall chipped in 11 points as the Lakers claimed a 63-59 road win.
The final two minutes, however, were a little shaky.
“We did have a crazy last few minutes where we missed some free throws, they hit a bunch of threes (25 footers, broken plays), and we turned the ball over,” Coach Yorkey said. “York did cut the margin down to seven, then hit a three at the buzzer. We identified the issues from that stretch and addressed them in practice on Saturday, but it doesn’t diminish our team’s overall performance. Our defense was excellent, holding them to 16 points in the first half (LR, 31-16).”
Jack Lesure scored nine points and Tyler Walker had his “best varsity game giving the team a spark in the first period” with six of his nine points, Coach Yorkey said. Nick Wandishin, Marcus DeVoe and Brandon Palmer also made key contributions.
Big road win: Some years, back-to-back road trips to York and Wells would be a nightmare, but the Lakers found their trips south most enjoyable.
Lake Region improved to 2-1 with a 71-40 victory over Wells Tuesday night.
Up next: The postponed game against Cape Elizabeth has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Dec. 30 with the First Team at 4, the JV at 5:30 and the varsity at 7 p.m.