Lakeview 62/N. Caddo 40
The Lakeview Gators were not expected to dominate this year, but they have surprised everyone, including those attending the Northwood Shreveport Tournament last week. The week started off with a game against North Caddo Wednesday.
Lakeview heavily dominated this game after the first quarter. Lakeview’s high tempo style of play was too difficult to match and the Gators walked away with a 62-40 win behind Dillon Pikes 14 points.
Lakeview 53/Mansfield 45
Friday was a bit of a tougher opponent when they faced off against Mansfield. A big difference in the Mansfield team this year is their new coach was the one who beat the Gators not once, but twice at BTW last season.
So if someone knew how to stop Lakeview, it was this guy. They definitely put the pressure on, being tied or in the lead the entire first half. Each team got the momentum for a couple minutes, then it swapped sides. Mansfield led 22-21 at halftime.
Javonte Howard opened up the second half with a shot from behind the arc. Mansfield countered by scoring seven straight points. Then Gator freshman Lonzo Driver, a kid who has definitely showed up for Lakeview, took the momentum and ran with it. Driver hit a 3 on the left side and without getting the chance to move the ball, it was stolen and kicked right back to him where he knocked down the exact same shot.
Then the kid got a steal of his own and made a nice floater. He scored 8 points in less than 10 seconds and gave his team the boost they needed. From here it was all Lakeview and they walked away with a 53-45 win behind Driver’s 14 points.
Lakeview 49/ BTW 47
Saturday, the final day of the tournament, featured an early 2 p.m. game against what’s becoming a new rivalry for Lakeview, Booker T. Washington. After winning off back-to-back buzzer beaters against Lakeview last year, the Gators were definitely coming for the Lions’ head. Lakeview did not look like their normal selves in the first half. In fact, they were down by double digits at one point, and it looked like BTW was going to walk away victorious again. But a show of heart, and some pretty incredible coaching from Brian Williams, the Gators got new life after halftime. The team wasn’t able to catch up till the fourth quarter came around.
A 3 from Mike Shields followed by a pot score by Mykel Slaughter tied the game up 43-43 with 3:16 remaining. Shields showed the ice in his veins when he pulled up from 5 feet behind the three-point line and swished it in a defenders face to give the Gators the lead. The Lions got in the paint to score and dwindled the lead down to 46-45 with 1:24 left in the game. Slaughter got another big bucket to push the lead back up to three. They got a fast break score to once again. The Gators couldn’t make their free throw, and gave the Lions one more chance to win the game.
BTW’s best shooter got his play behind the arc and a chance to make it three straight buzzer beaters in this rivalry, but he wasn’t even close. Dillon Pikes came down with a rebound and was fouled to stop the clock. Pikes made a free throw to put the icing on the cake and gave the Gators a 49-47 victory to push the Gator record to 8-0.
Lakeview is on a roll and I don’t suggest getting in their way.
