The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
In what could have been a dangerous trap game for Lakewood, the Lancers continued their impressive start to Moore League play, following head coach Duane Cooper’s mantra of going 1-0 every night.
The host Cabrillo Jaguars made some plays early and held a lead in the second quarter, but the visiting Lancers used their balanced attack and showed great poise in pulling away for a 59-38 win.
“We went 1-0 today, that was it,” said Cooper after the win. “We’re just trying to stack ‘em up, play hard, play together, and like I said, each night it could be someone different … This was a good win, man. I think Cabrillo is on the right track, (Cabrillo head coach Chris Spencer)’s doing a good job over there.”
Keaton Lewis led the way for Lakewood with 17 points, all but two of those coming in the second half. He made himself comfortable in the corners, where he knocked down four threes to help the Lancers secure the win.
“I had to take a moment to myself because I wasn’t really shooting the ball a lot,” said Lewis of what changed at halftime. “I realized that they kept leaving me open in the corner so I just started shooting whatever was open. My adrenaline just told me to start shooting more, and I’m happy with how I played in the second half.”
While Lewis took things over after halftime, it was fellow junior Anthony Williams who led the way for the Lancers in the first half. He had eight of his 12 points before the break, but also keyed a crucial 12-0 run in the second half, turning a 16-12 deficit to a 24-16 Lakewood lead.
The Lancers led 26-17 at halftime, then continued to gradually grow their lead the rest of the night. Starting in the second quarter, the Lancers were able to get the ball in the paint with regularity, leading to a number of quality looks. Once the perimeter opened up, Lewis and others were deadly from beyond the arc as Lakewood drilled six of their seven threes in the final two quarters.
Adam Bermudez chipped in eight points for Lakewood, and nine different Lancers cracked the scoresheet.
For Cabrillo, they were right there for the first 10 minutes, but made too many mistakes against a quality opponent. Chad Washington led the team with 10 points while fellow senior Jeremy Siquig finished with nine.
“They were just a little more poised than us. I thought they stayed in their sets and ran them well,” said Spencer of Lakewood’s performance against his squad. “(I told the team) you can’t let this game beat you twice. You lost to Lakewood, it happened. You can’t get it back, and we won’t see them again. Now we’ve got to go get ready to beat Compton (on Friday) and win two games next week.”
Lakewood completed the season sweep over Cabrillo ahead of their biggest game of the season so far. The Lancers will host Long Beach Poly on Friday night, where one team will emerge unbeaten in league play and remain atop the standings.
The Lancers did a nice job of not looking ahead, and now they can focus on their matchup with the Jackrabbits. But Coach Cooper isn’t making a huge deal out of it, and wants his team to stay locked in on the vision.
“We want to go 1-0 on Friday. That’s it,” Cooper said of the showdown with Poly. “We want to play hard, we want to play fast, we want to play together and be smart. At 7 o’clock on Friday. win one game. That’s it.”
