by CANTON, Ohio–After getting down early, GlenOak pushed until the final possession, but it wasn’t enough Tuesday night as Lutheran East went on to win, 60-57 during game one of the Canton Play by Play Classic.
“We have a tough-minded team, been in a lot of close games all year,” Lutheran East coach Sam Liggins explained. “Those guys were born to play in these tough games.”
Freshman Dylan Zeigler didn’t take long to find his 3-point shot early on. He helped push the Falcons out to an early double-digit lead. Junior TJ Crumble got going early as well and that helped his team get out to a 25-12 lead after the first quarter.
That’s when the Golden Eagles adjusted and came out to start the second quarter with answers. In the first two and a half minutes of the quarter, they outscored the Falcons 8-2, forcing Sam Liggins to regroup and turnovers and missed opportunities on the offensive end headlined a sluggish end to the half.
From there, Reese Zerger and Bryce Brown controlled the game offensively heading into halftime. They had the Falcons guessing, which led to easy layups that got them within one possession closing out the first half. After a dominant opening quarter, the Falcons stalled out, forcing a new game heading into halftime as they led just 32-31.
The Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game—33-32—to open the second half scoring and from there, they continued to control the game throughput the third quarter. Crumble was a force in the paint, drawing a slew of fouls that inched them closer to regaining the lead in the third quarter.
Both teams couldn’t maintain a lead throughout the fourth quarter as it seemed like a scoring run by any team can impact how the game ended. The Falcons took control of that, going on a quick 5-0 run that saw them regain a two-point lead.
A couple of missed opportunities for the Golden Eagles proved to be costly down the stretch. They couldn’t get a 3-pointer to fall and defensively, gave up second-chance points that ultimately gave the Falcons a late lead.
The dagger for the Golden Eagles came with under a minute left when Jayden Nellemsbey knocked down a corner 3-pointer to put the Falcons ahead 68-67. After that, the Golden Eagles couldn’t convert offensively, leading to two Chris Hill free throws down the stretch to put the game away after the Golden Eagles failed to get a clean look at a game-tying 3-pointer.
Up next for the Falcons is three more games this week to end the regular season. Liggins explained that it’s a lot to handle closing out the year, but it’ll be another learning opportunity for his team.
“Conditioning wise, rhythm wise and we can get some other guys some reps to see if they can build some confidence going into the tournament,” Liggins said.
