Comeback bid falls short

Lakeside head coach Tom Clements had seen it before.

With his team trailing by five, turnovers and empty possessions on the offensive end of the court sank the Chiefs’ chances of a comeback against Class AA, Region 1 rival Crenshaw Christian. The Cougars escaped Eufaula with a 51-39 win Friday night.

“It’s the same old thing,” Clements said. “We just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. We keep turning the ball over and not being patient on offense. We’re not making sure we get a good shot. On the other end of the court we’re giving up easy baskets. It’s the same thing we’ve struggled with all season.”

With 5:22 remaining in Friday’s contest, Lakeside junior Jay Weston drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to cut Crenshaw Christian’s lead to seven points. Less than a minute later, senior Christopher Williams converted a pair of free-throw attempts to draw the Chiefs to within five points of the Cougars. But that’s as close as the Chiefs would get.

The Cougars outpaced Lakeside 11-2 during the final 4:37 to seal the win.

Eric van Beek led the Cougars with 18 points. Jake Paige added 17.

Lakeside was paced by Williams’ 14 points and Weston’s 13 points.

The Cougars, who led the entire game, took control early. They opened the game with an 8-0 run before Lakeside senior Drew Wilkerson finally got the Chiefs on the scoreboard at the 4:34 mark of the first period when he hit a 3-pointer. A basket in the lane and a free throw by Williams and two Weston free throws helped the Chiefs trim the Crenshaw Christian lead to just two points with 1:13 remaining in the first period, but the Cougars quickly stretched the lead back to seven by the close of the first period.

Lakeside never got closer than five for the remainder of the game.

The Cougars outscored the Chiefs 12-8 in the second period to push their lead to 11 points. But Lakeside battled back in the third period.

Weston connected on two 3-point attempts, Williams scored three the old-fashioned way after being fouled on a shot in the lane, Wilkerson added a pair of free-throw attempts and sophomore forward Trey Fortune hit 1-of-2 free-throw attempts to slice the Crenshaw Christian lead to just eight points at 38-30.

It looked as though momentum had swung to the Chiefs, who made it a two-possession game with 4:49 to play. In the end, Paige was too much of a force on the inside. The Crenshaw Christian forward scored eight points in the final period, including six in the final 3:30 of the game to help stave off the Lakeside comeback.

The Chiefs (3-11, 1-4 Class AA, Region 1) will be back in action tonight when they travel to Lanett to take on region foe Springwood. Junior varsity action is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. with varsity action to follow.

Lakeside defeated Springwood 47-29 on Dec. 2 to score its first win of the season.