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Orange rallies back to beat Bombers 6-5
(by Tony Lange - December 22, 2011)
Photo by Itamar Gat\
Kenston’s Pat Luyons greets Orange’s Justin Holm along the boards during the Lions 6-5 win over the Bombers Monday night at The Pond in Auburn.
Orange rallies back to beat Bombers 6-5
By TONY LANGE
A fourth-quarter scoring spree propelled Orange to a 74-66 victory last Friday night as the Lions defended their home court against Gilmour.
Orange outscored the Lancers 27-18 in the final eight minutes, which was largely attributed to sophomore Spencer Williams who scored 14 of his 20 points during that time. He also had seven assists and five steals in the game.
With three minutes left in the game, however, Orange led by just four points, 63-59, before calling a timeout.
Athleticism, not flow, was winning the game at the point, Orange head coach Bobby Wright said.
"We wanted to get some high-percentage shots and share the ball," he said. "They have to share the basketball and trust one another. We have special talents, but not trust as a team right now. That's tough and we've got to work through that."
Orange came out of the timeout with a 6-0 run to gain a 10-point lead and secure the victory.
The Lions improved to 4-0, while the Lancers dropped to 1-3.
While Williams owned the fourth quarter, the leading scorer for the Lions was senior DeVaughn Wingard who tallied 33 points, 25 of which came during the first half.
Wingard also had nine rebounds, five blocks and four assists.
"I was just looking to attack and stay strong and score for my team," Wingard said. "On defense, I just had to clamp down really. I like to come in from behind and make those blocks."
After scoring 25 of the Lions' 38 first-half points, Wingard was the man who the Lancers had to key in on, Gilmour head coach David Pfundstein said.
"We knew we had to stop No. 12," he said. "We thought we made good adjustments on that. I also told them that we needed to attack the rim a little bit better. We were settling for 12-footers. So, we wanted to attack a little bit more and get to the free-throw line."
After trailing by five points at half, the Lancers were able to snag a 48-47 lead after the third quarter. Junior point guard, David Linane, led the Lancers in that effort as he finished the game with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists.
The Lions knew that Gilmour was a well-coached team, Orange senior Trae Williams said.
"We had to up the tempo and use our athleticism to beat them," he said. "We used the press early on, but they beat that pretty well. So, they kept it close because they made a lot of their shots from outside."
Trae, who is Spencer's older brother, finished the game with nine points, six rebounds, two steals and two assists for the Lions.
Also leading the stats for the Lions was senior Julian Turner who appeared to still be in football mode with his physical game and foul trouble.
He finished the game with six points, eight rebounds and four assists and a steal nonetheless.
"I've got to control myself because I'm not helping my team on the bench," he said. "So, I've got to work on that. And my shot wasn't falling like I wanted. I was definitely looking to score, but I've got to help my team in other ways like rebounding and assists and any way I can to help."
At certain points during the game, the Lions were unorganized and lacked cohesiveness, Wright said.
"Sometimes when you've got guys who have those talents, they're a little tougher to coach," he said. "We made some low-percentage shots down the stretch and were able to pull this one off with our athleticism."
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