Lake advances after district win

Now that’s more like it.

The Lake Blue Streaks looked like every bit the top seed in the Alliance Division I district, and the Youngstown East Panthers simply could not counter. The result was a 59-42 win for the Blue Streaks that sent them into a district final matchup with Hoover.

After needing a massive second-half rally to recover from an 18-point, third-quarter deficit and defeat Canfield by three in their first tournament game, the Blue Streaks (21-3) were in no mood for a close game or dramatic ending against the Panthers.

“It’s something we talked a lot about. We did think we were a little stale in that first contest,” Lake coach Tom McBride said. “But it’s tournament time and people get good game plans on you and Canfield had one. It was nice to see for what I thought was about 25 of the 32 minutes to have a jump in our step tonight.”

Riding an efficient and effective outing from junior forward Mitchell Spottleson, Lake used a 2-3 zone defense to stifle the East attack early on and pull away as the 6-foot-4 Spottleson made 5 of 6 field goal attempts in the opening half and 9 of 11 for the game.

After leading by seven after one quarter (12-5), Lake built its edge as Spottleson, senior forward Chaese Vaudrin and junior guard Alex Belinsky combined for 22 of their team’s 27 first-half points.

“Mitchell has been efficient all year. He’s just a pleasure around the basket and can do some things from 15 feet out, hit the occasional three, he’s just been the all-around basketball player for us this year, no question,” McBride said.

On the other end, the Panthers (18-7) had difficulty being patient and moving the ball around the perimeter against Lake’s zone, resulting in nine turnovers. Multiple timeouts by coach Dennis Simmons could not alter the course of the half for East as their fans grew restless and began shouting out suggestions to players on what to do to better attack the Lake defense.

Even when they held onto the ball, the Panthers shot just 4 of 22 (18.2 percent) for the opening half and only cracked double digits on a layup to end the half by junior guard Anthony Reid. Against an 18-win team, even a 27-11 margin at intermission seemed certain to be challenged.

Instead, the Blue Streaks poured it on on the third, fueled by two 3-pointers from Belinsky, more near-flawless shooting from Spottleson and deft ball handling by Vaudrin.

With less than 30 seconds left in the period, the lead had swelled to 29, at 49-20. That was when the Panthers made their only real push of the night, scoring the next 11 points in less than one minute of game time to span the third and fourth quarters with an 11-0 run to pull within 18.

The Lake lead never dipped below 14 in the fourth despite an increased level of physicality as the Panthers went on the attack and were aggressive throughout the final eight minutes. Propelled by three 3-pointers from senior guard Taylor Johnson, East began delivering hard fouls and creating turnovers. With several of its starters on the bench at the beginning of the quarter, Lake managed to hold on long enough for their key players to get a break before returning to the court to put the finishing touches on the win.

In the end, Vaudrin, Spottleson and sophomore point guard Chase Champagne stabilized their squad and the Blue Streaks got the stops they needed to halt the East momentum.

“There’s always going to be a run somewhere, and they came out in the fourth quarter and made three straight 3-pointers,” McBride observed. “But I thought we were in control most of the night.”

Spottleson led all scorers with 19 points and rounded out a double-double with a game high 12 rebounds to pace Lake to a 37-30 edge on the glass. Johnson led the Panthers with 17 points, including 16 in the second half to try to help his team rally and get back into the game.