Lakota West beats Oak Hills

But the Highlanders tied the Firebirds twice in a GMC matchup.

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12:25 AM Wednesday, December 7, 2011

By Bob Ratterman

Contributing Writer

WEST CHESTER TWP. — It wasn’t pretty, but the Lakota West High School boys basketball opened its season with a 56-47 Greater Miami Conference triumph over Oak Hills on Tuesday night.

The Firebirds jumped out to an early 14-4 lead after the first quarter and led 26-14 at halftime.

In the second half, however, the game got interesting as Oak Hills tied the game twice in the fourth quarter at 40-40 and 42-42. But Lakota West (1-0, 1-0 GMC) pulled away thanks to a 14-0 run and settled for the nine-point victory.

“We have a long way to go,” West coach Sean Van Winkle said. “We’re not believing in ourselves right now. We have some kinks to work out. We played decent D and we hung on to win, but by no means am I happy.”

The night started badly for the Highlanders, who saw junior Jake Richmond called for two fouls before either team had scored any points.

The Highlanders did not score their first points until 3½ minutes into the game. Oak Hills senior Jack Pflum also picked up two fouls in the first quarter and joined Richmond on the bench.

“It took us about a half to adjust,” Oak Hills coach Mike Price said. “Their pressure really hurt us. They came after us.”

Having those two players in foul trouble hurt the Highlanders (0-2, 0-1). Price said he has a young team with little experience.

“We only have three with varsity experience,” he said. “We have three seniors. Number 24 (Ben Laumann) is just a sophomore and not super strong.”

The Firebirds got 16 points from junior Monty Boykins and 12 points from senior Kayaune Ross, who buried a trey from the left corner as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter and put the home team up by 10.

Lakota West scored eight of the first 10 points in the third quarter and led 33-16.

But Oak Hills cut that lead to 38-31 by the end of the third and tied it at 40-40 on a Pflum three-pointer. At 42-all, West’s Ali Barnes hit a trey off a rebound of a missed free throw to make it 45-42 and West was on its way.

Barnes finished with seven points and Tyler Williams had eight.

Lakota West returns to the court Dec. 16 when it hosts Sycamore.

“We did not play well,” Van Winkle said. “We will get some good practices in. We just are not as far along as I thought we’d be.”

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