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Firebirds upend Middies

Boykins scores game-high 24 points to lead West.

wheeler Middletown's Zach Edwards makes a pass as Lakota West's Jackson Blue (left) defends Friday night.

Lakota West's Tyler Williams (15) and Cole Stalker (12) battle Middletown's Geovonie McKnight for a rebound Friday night at Middletown. Contributed photos by Martin Wheeler

wheeler Lakota West's Tyler Williams (15) and Cole Stalker (12) battle Middletown's Geovonie McKnight for a rebound Friday night at Middletown. Contributed photos by Martin Wheeler

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By John Bombatch, Staff Writer 7:49 PM Saturday, January 21, 2012

MIDDLETOWN — The Lakota West boys basketball team battled back from a 13-point deficit, then outscored host Middletown 14-7 in the final quarter to upend the Middies 56-53 Friday night in the Wade E. Miller Gym.

West’s Jackson Blue broke a 53-53 tie by hitting one of two free throws with 1:30 left in the game, then teammate Monty Boykins hit a pair of free throws with 4.6 seconds left to ice the win.

“Statistically, I’m probably not one of the better free-throw shooters around, but we’d been really working on free throws all week in practice. And I was hitting them pretty well there, so I just treated it like practice,” said Boykins, who led all scorers with 24 points. “Coming into the game, we felt we could beat them again. We beat them last year in an upset, and we just felt that we could do it again.”

West defeated Middletown 62-59 last season in the Miller Gym.

This time, a pair of free throws by the Middies’ Vincent Edwards earned Middletown a 27-14 lead midway through the second quarter, but West was able to respond with an 8-2 run in the final two minutes of the first half to pull to within 31-28 at the break.

“If you don’t come ready to play anybody in this conference, you’re going to get beat. This is the toughest conference around, no doubt, and to get one on the road in this gym, it’s big for us. I’m very, very proud of our guys,” West coach Sean Van Winkle said.

Tyler Williams and Ali Barnes also scored in double figures for the Firebirds with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Middletown’s Geovonie McKnight was the only Middie to score in the fourth quarter. He led the team with 19 points and Edwards finished with 16.

Middletown coach Josh Andrews said his team just couldn’t put the game out of West’s reach.

“We got worn down, they beat us to spots and they were just tougher than us tonight,” Andrews said. “We had a 13-point lead and we just didn’t play smart basketball.

“We’ve got to be a more disciplined team and we’ve got to eliminate the turnovers.”

Middletown (9-4, 6-1 GMC) slips into a tie for the GMC lead with Mason. West (8-5, 5-2) moves into a tie for second place with Fairfield.

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