By Norm Weber
LAKEWOOD – In opening the new Lakewood High gym here Friday
night, St. Edward defeated the Rangers by a closer score than most expected,
51-38.
“It’s good to win on the road and it’s good to get the
opening win,” St. Edward Head Basketball Coach Eric Flannery said. “The hard
part about being St. Ed’s and with what happened when we played Lakewood last
year at St. Ed’s (a 106-51 Eagle win) is people expect that that is going to be
the way it is.”
Lakewood (0-1) hung around on this night, the Eagles leading
by only six points, 41-35, with 3:30 to go.
“Lakewood is a well-coached team with size and athleticism,”
Coach Flannery said. “They did a great job tonight. They got lucky in a sense
in slowing down the pace. It’s hard to attack them early in the season,
especially with their length. They mixed it up well.”
St. Edward (1-0) never trailed. Its biggest lead was 17
points, 25-8, with five minutes to go in the half when Elliott Tirbaso hit a
three with an assist from Tae Tae Blanton.
“We had a chance to pull away and went to our bench and had
a few turnovers,” Coach Flannery said. “We missed free throws and layups and
when we do those things on the road the other team is going to stay in it for a
long time. We hurt ourselves.”
The Eagles had a 10-point lead after three quarters, 36-26,
Lakewood cut it to seven with a three, but the Eagles were able to get it back
up to 10 on a three by Montorie Foster with an assist from Blanton.
Missing their first five free throws in the fourth quarter, the
Eagles clung to a 43-36 lead with 1:42 to go.
“There are a lot of positive things to take from this,”
Coach Flannery said. “They are opening a new facility, which is beautiful, by
the way. We are playing a team that is hungry and is looking for an upset; we
have to find a way to dig deep and grind it out.”
That the Eagles did. They made their next eight free throws
with Blanton, P.J. Flannery and Josiah Knight doing the shooting.
“The way we shot free throws and took care of the ball down
the stretch was a really good sign,” the elder Flannery said. When the starting
point guard goes down with an injury someone has to step up.”
Grant Huffman went down with an ankle injury in the third
quarter and didn’t return. He was fouled on the play and Tirbaso went in to
take the shots and made them.
“There was some concern with that and we wanted to take care
of the basketball,” the coach said. “Richard White and Montorie Foster did a
good job of handling the ball in that situation.”
Flannery did make a public apology.
“I think the thing that is nice is that this place is clean
and smells good and the layout is great,” he said of the new facility. “The
stands behind the basket gives a great atmosphere. There are not that many
schools that have that energy behind the basket. It was nice to be here. We can
always say we played the first varsity game here. We’re honored to be here. I
want to apologize for winning the game. I am a Lakewood guy (St. James). There
is a special part in my heart for Lakewood. To see what they are doing with the
schools is great.”
Huffman finished with eight points. Emmett Chambers had 13
points. Tirbaso had nine including a dunk on a put-back. Blanton had four
assists.
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