Lehigh Defense and Guards Too Much for Cape Coral
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Aaron Seybert
SWFLHoops.com
Lehigh Lightning @ Cape Coral Seahawks
CAPE CORAL, FL— Going into Tuesday night there were four teams sitting at 4-2 in district play within District 5A-15, and the two teams we went to see duke it out, Lehigh and Cape Coral, were two of those four. Both teams also entered the game with identical overall record at 14-5. Well, despite the evidence pointing to a even match-up and potential great game, Lehigh's defense and group of guards were just too much for the Seahawks, as the visiting Lightning captured the district win in convincing fashion, 63-38.
Plain and simple, Cape Coral just could not score against the combination of zone and man to man defense that Lehigh threw at them throughout the night. Lehigh's trio of guards, seniors Sharod Morse and Kendris Mathews, and sophomore Jamaris Brown, just hounded the Seahawks ballhandlers and came up with a combined 11 steals between them. On most occassions those steals also led to open court baskets or ended with trips to the free throw line where Lehigh made them pay, finishing 10-13 for the game as a team.
Lehigh's Morse, who led all scorers with 20 points to go along with 4 assists and 4 steals, made sure to set the tone early and often, scoring 12 of his points in the first half. Lehigh led 34-23 at halftime.
Cape Coral did their best to hang around in the first two quarters depite falling behind early in the first quarter, 14-4 at the worst point. Cape made their best go of it over the last 2 1/2 minutes of the first and the first minute of the second quarters. After falling behind 14-4, they outscored Lehigh 13-6 over that 3 and a half minute span, cutting the lead to 20-17 with 7:07 left in the half.
But Lehigh would answer, scoring the next 9 points and opening up their largest lead of the half at 29-17.
In the third quarter it would start out like the beginning of the game, with both teams playing a bit sloppy, turning it over and missing a couple easy baskets. Then it looked like Cape Coral junior wing Joel Hill, who finished with a team-high 16 points, would start to take over and get his team back in it. He hit a couple of nice pull up jumpers that would usually open things up for him to penetrate, but this was not the case. Hill did not score again in the quarter.
Matter of fact, neither team looked very good outside of a few steals defensively for the Lightning, with the teams only combining for 18 points in the quarter, Lehigh scoring 11 and Cape scoring 7. But it was enough to increase the margin heading into the fourth to 45-30 and possibly out of reach unless the Seahawlks could get hot or get some stuff going to the hoop.
In the fourth though, Cape Coral continued to struggle with the on the ball defense up top by the Lehigh guards, not allowing them to penetrate into the middle of the defense on very many occassions. And when they did get some penetration, it was very common to see a Lehigh with a hand in the passing lane on the kick outs. Lehigh too advantage of the Seahawk struggles once again, outscoring them 14-4 over the first 5 minutes of the last period before Cape decided to take their starters all out of the game with the score at 59-34.
For Lehigh, besides Morse, the Lightning had a three other familiar contributors as senior forward Leon Davis had 16 points and a game high 9 rebounds. Jamaris Brown had 14 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 assists. Senior guard Kendris Mathews finished with 10 points and 3 more steals.
For Cape Coral, leading scorer Joel Hill was the only one scoring period, with his 16 for the game, although it was a spread out 16 as he was unable to give his team needed momentum. The only other player to score over 3 points was senior guard Yoko Roldan who had 8, but all came in the first half. Free throw shooting also plagued the Seahawks, as they shot 9-18 from the line in the game.
Lehigh returns to action Wednesday night at home against Riverdale in a non-district contest.
Cape Coral will also play again Wednesday, when they hit the road to visit Cypress Lake in a non-district contest.
Fort Myers Green Wave 65, Barron Collier Cougars 48 (@ Ft Myers)
The biggest difference in tonight’s game came on the boards. Fort Myers hauled down 42 rebounds for the game. Barron Collier senior and leading scorer Brian Landers, who only finished with 2 points, was hampered by foul trouble most of the night. Fort Myers had good offensive performances from junior Buddy McClendon (15 pts), and sophomores Matt Yance (15 pts) and James Whitfield (11 pts). Sophomore guard Evin Graham didn't score a ton, only 4, but he pulled down 11 rebounds and dished out 5 assists.
Fort Myers seemed to finish every quarter strongly winning the final 2-3 minutes of each quarter. They also played a great defensive game forcing a lot of turnovers and holding BC to 48 pts.
For Barron Collier, freshman standout guard Deion Clark was solid with a team-high 15 points and senior forward Jason Humphrey netted 14.
This win sealed up the regular season district title for Fort Myers who is now 8-0 in district play and 13-7 overall. They play their final district game of the season tomorrow night vs. East Lee with a chance to go undefeated in district play for the second season in a row. Saturday, the Green Wave take on Mariner for a chance to go undefeated in conference play for the second season in a row. Barron Collier drops to 15-7 overall and 4-3 in district play, and will return to action Friday to face Naples Lely on the road. Check out the updated 5A-15 district standings
Port Charlotte Pirates 66, Charlotte Tarpons 57 (@ Port Charlotte)
With the return of starters Nick Goshay, who is also the Tarpons leading scorer, and Alex Mut things figured to be in Charlotte's favor considering they had beaten district leaders Venice and North Port over the last week and a half with their full roster available. However, a stingy Port Charlotte crew would not be intimidated as they played bad host defeating the Tarpons 66-57.
The win was due in large part to the Pirate defense and a surprising toughness the young Pirates have not shown up to this point, taking 9 charges as a team. Junior forward Chad Lawrence led Port Charlotte with 16 points and an impressive 16 rebounds and 4 charges taken of his own. Junior guard Brian Lockhart added 15, senior Jonothan Smith chipped in with 10, and 6'8" senior Steven Zavier put in 9, including two dunks and one in particular, a two handed jam with authority over a contesting Tarpon player that send the crowd into a frenzy.
Charlotte was led by junior forward Johnny Ocasio who had 19, while Goshay chipped in 9 in his first action back after suffering a concussion last week.
Port Charlotte, who has struggled with a young group this season, improves to 2-10 in district action and 4-14 overall. Charlotte drops to 9-11 overall and 6-6 in district play. Check out the updated 5A-12 district standings
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