Chiefs tame Wildcats

By Andy Brown

Published: December 5, 2008

It’s an old cliché that a win is a win.

That was never truer than Tuesday night when Lakeside topped region-rival Springwood 47-29 in Eufaula to earn its first win of the season after a blowout loss to Lee-Scott and a close call with Glenwood.

“It didn’t matter to me how it looked, we just needed a win,” Lakeside head coach Tom Clements said.

It turns out it didn’t look so bad.

The Chiefs (1-2, 1-0 Class AA, Region 1) led for the entire game and managed to overcome the absence of starter Chris Williams, who missed the game because he is taking part in the Alabama Independent School Association All-Star Football Classic.

“We’ve still got a long way to go, but we played good enough to win the game tonight,” Clements said. “We deserved to win this game. I’m really proud of the effort these guys gave. Whenever you have a starter out you worry a little, but our guys responded tonight. We used a bunch of different combinations and we had some guys step up.”

Lakeside senior Drew Wilkerson was one of those guys that stepped up. He scored a game-high 18 points, 14 of which came in the game’s opening half, to lead the Lakeside offense. His second-period scoring spurt gave the Chiefs a little breathing room heading into the second half.

With Lakeside leading 9-5 at the end of the first period, Wilkerson took control of the game. After a 3-pointer by Springwood’s Bishop Carmichael cut the Chiefs’ led to 9-8 with 7:31 remaining in the first half, Wilkerson scored nine unanswered points to push the Lakeside lead to 18-8.

Lakeside sophomores Tyler Crouch and Casey Brown each scored a basket in the final 1:14 of the period to help the Chiefs carry a 22-10 lead into the break.

“That was big,” Clements said. “To hold Springwood to 10 points in the first half was big. I was really pleased with the way we played defense. We did a good job defending their shooters and we rebounded the ball well. If you do those two things more times than not things are going to go your way.”

Lakeside’s stingy defense helped make up for a night when Wilkerson was the only Chief to reach double figures. The Lakeside offense struggled to find a rhythm for much of the night.

“Offensively we’re still making too many mistakes,” Clements said. “We’re forcing passes when they’re not open and we’re rushing shots. We’ve got to be more patient on that end of the floor and make sure we get good shots. I’d like for us to be a little more balanced on offense so that teams won’t be able to focus on one guy, but we did enough to win tonight.”

Brown scored seven points for the Chiefs, while Crouch, sophomore Cody Sanders and junior Jay Weston each scored six points. Weston, who fractured his left foot during football season, was a last minute addition to the Chiefs’ lineup after the doctor released him to play earlier in the day. The junior was expected to be out until mid-December.

“Getting Jay back was a boost,” Clements said. “He gives us another outside shooter.”

Tuesday the Chiefs did most of their damage in the paint. Wilkerson made two 3-pointers, but the Chiefs depended largely on the slashing ability of their guards to create scoring opportunities.

With Lakeside leading 31-20 with eight minutes remaining to play, Clements called a timeout to set his offense. For the final eight minutes, the Chiefs ran the four-corners offense with great success.

“We were having a hard time running our offense, so we decided to set up and run the four-corners,” Clements said. “We decided to pull the ball out and attack the gaps and I though the guys did a good job of running it.”

Lakeside outscored Springwood 16-9 in the fourth period to seal the win.

Lakeside will be back in action Saturday when it plays host to region-rival Evangel Christian. The game is slated for an 11:30 a.m. start.