by LYNDHURST, Ohio–The Lutheran East Falcons are a confident basketball team.
Head coach Sam Liggins and his team continue to improve off of some early season losses. Their winning streak continued Sunday afternoon during the fifth game of the Chet Mason Invitation behind a dominant 85-68 win against Shaker Heights.
“We’ve been in a gauntlet the last four games,” Liggins said. “We’ve been playing at a high level.”
Shaker Heights couldn’t get much of anything going throughout the first half of the game. Kellon Smith put up nine points for his team, but other than that, it was dominated by the Falcons, starting with their ability to push the ball in transition.
That often led to easy points inside the paint for the lengthy falcons team. Dominating with their towering size, the Raiders just had no answer for whoever was able to get to the rim for the Falcons.
Smith was able to knock down a 3-pointer with just over one minute left in the first quarter to give his team a 10-8 lead at the time.
The rest is a blur.
After the Falcons were leading 15-13 after the first quarter, they were able to out-score the Raiders 30-9 in the second quarter, behind strong performances from Anthony Bruce and Ronald Taylor. They even allowed just two points in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
They often tested their outside shots throughout the night, with Jesse McCulloch and TJ Crumble dominating the points in the paint.
The most notable improvement within the team is at the point guard position, according to Liggins. He’s been making some adjustments all season long, rotating guys like Cody Head and Ronald Taylor around, seeing what works best.
“A couple of games ago we switched Cody to point guard…He’s really good at facilitating, really good with the ball in his hands.” Liggins said. “We took him off the ball this year to be more of a two-guard for us…He trusts his players and he’s growing as a player.”
During the win, five players scored in double-figures for the Falcons. TJ Crumble and Taylor led the way with 19 points apiece along with 18 from Cody Head. The Way Taylor was able to step up and make some big-time plays Sunday afternoon was something Liggins and his team are proud to see.
“Ronald is a junior and we got a big plan for him to come back next year as a senior so we’re getting him these reps now and he’s one of our only shooters,” Liggins explained. “He can stretch the floor and he showed tonight what he can do and we’ve been looking for that all year.”
During the loss, Kellon Smith poured in a game-high 26 points for the Raiders. Noah Chambers and Ricardo Johnson rounded out the scoring with 10 points each during the loss.
