Boys’ Varsity Loses 54-59 in Sub State Championship vs. Lawrence High School

photo: Lucy Morantz

The Lancer boys basketball team fell short in the second round of the sub-state championship to Chesty Lions of Lawrence High School last Friday, March 3.

East struggled to gain momentum on offense from the start, sputtering to 15 points in the first quarter. The Lancers went into the second quarter down by seven, with Lawrence scoring 22 points in the first.

“We knew that we would have to stop the ball early in transition and we didn’t do that too well early in the game,” senior and center Liam George said. “At half[time] we talked about [stopping the ball] better and we went on an 8-2 run. I think the game would have been completely different if we did that earlier [in the game].”

Both teams fought to keep the momentum and adrenaline from the first quarter into the second. East outscored Lawrence 11-8 in the second, cutting the lead down to 26-30 going into halftime.

East came out of halftime refreshed and started the third quarter strong, but again were unable to find a way to overcome the strong Lions defense. The Lancers were able to keep the deficit nearly even from before halftime, going into the fourth quarter down by five.

The fourth quarter was the strongest of the game for the Lancers. As the quarter progressed, East was able to challenge Lawrence for the lead. With just over two minutes to go in the game the Lancers were down 53-45. As the game winded down, East got within five points of the Lions but were unable to get any closer to finish the game.

“We played really hard the entire game,” junior and forward Jack Schoemann said. “[Lawrence] is a good team, especially at home. I thought we competed the whole game but just let some things slip away late.”

During the Lancers 13-7 campaign, they went on a six-game winning streak. After losing to SM South to close the regular season, East was able to bounce back with a win in the first round of the sub-state championship against SM North- who they lost to last year. The loss to Lawrence concluded the Lancers’ season.