by Written by Caden Lawrence
LAKEWOOD, OH – Lakewood defended home court tonight with a 50-34 win. Lakewood’s Riley Verdeber and Rory Chanter snatched the first quick 7 points of the game to take a 7-0 lead, and Lakewood would be able to keep that lead despite back-to-back threes from River’s Jeff Maslar and Brandon Nazette. Lakewood punched right back to end the quarter on an 11-2 run, being capped off by Lakewood’s Liam McGann knocking down the corner three at the buzzer to lead 18-8 after 1.
Lakewood continued to punch as they started the quarter on a 7-2 run before Rocky River’s Coach Murray called timeout. River was down 25-10, but then settled down to finish out the quarter. Lakewood led 32-18 at the break after dominating the paint, rebounding, and the turnover battle. River struggled to get the ball moving and inside, while Lakewood was slowing the pace and getting great looks.
River’s Brandon Nazette knocked down his 3rd 3 of the game, followed by a Jacob Radcliffe put-back layup, to cut the Lakewood lead to 9, which was once 20. Lakewood’s Verdeber then added onto his night with 2 buckets, pushing the lead back to 13. Lakewood’s lead was 11 after the 3rd in a low-scoring affair of 36-25, where the 3rd quarter was won by River 7-4. Lakewood’s 2-3 zone continued to limit River’s dynamic offense by slowing the pace and limiting paint touches.
Lakewood continued their dominance in the 4th, not slowing down, as Jackson Comer and Riley Verdeber dominated the paint on both sides of the floor, with Nathan Brewer nailing a 3 to send Lakewood up 18. Rocky River never led one time in this game, as Lakewood controlled through and through and came out on top 50-34.
Lakewood moves to first place in the CWC at 6-2, as Rocky River moves to 5-3 in 4th place in the conference. These 2 teams will meet again for their 2nd battle on February 6th, this time at River, where the Pirates will look to avenge their loss tonight.
