Lakeview 65/St. Mary’s 48
The Lakeview Gators have been nothing short of fascinating this season, which comes as a shock to most. Starting the year 8-0, they were coming in hot Tuesday when they faced off against the St. Mary’s Tigers. A big player for the Gators this year has been Dillon Pikes, the Gators “big man.” That’s in quotations because Pikes only stands at about 6 feet tall, but his strength and mentality makes him no different than some of the big men he’s faced this year. He started off the game with a steal and a beautiful eurostep around a defender attempting to take a charge.
The Tigers got a fast break score of their own to counter. The next play saw Javonte Howard making a beautiful no look assist to Andre Sowell at the bucket. Again, St. Mary’s countered with a shot from long range. Sowell and Pikes both got easy layups on the next possessions, but yet again St. Mary’s drilled from downtown. Lakeview got their own shot from behind the arc shortly after Mike Shields checked into the game.
Lakeview closed out the first quarter on a 9-0 run, highlighted by a beautiful post fade away from C.J Jones, who had his first big game of the year for Lakeview. The Gators led 17-10 to start of the second. Pikes read the passing lanes to perfection, getting his third and fourth steals on back to back plays to start the quarter. Howard got on the board after this with back to back drives in the lane.
A St. Mary’s player got a technical foul and that was all the Gators needed to get the ball rolling. They outscored the Tigers 14-5 in the second quarter, giving them a 16 point lead at halftime. The long range ball opened up for both team in the third quarter. St. Mary’s started the half with a second chance bucket and an outside shot. Cam Holden got his first points of the game when he hit from the outside wing. The Tigers hit again from outside, but Sowell answered with 8 straight points for Lakeview.
Jones get a beautiful corner three to go down after a Tiger free throw line trip. St. Mary’s got the lead down to 15 with a three close to the end of the third, but Howard felt the need to get on the highlight reel to end the quarter, as he hit a step back from about 5 feet behind the top of the key as the buzzer sounded to give his team a 50-32 lead.
St. Mary’s got a couple quick scores to start the quarter, but Jones hit another corner bomb, and that was all she wrote. Lakeview controlled the fourth and walked away with a 65-48 victory. Sowell led in scoring with 16 points, as Lakeview moved to 9-0 on the season.
