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Yappi.com writer HARTVILLE-Up by 15 with one minute remaining in front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Lake High School, the Jackson Polar Bears were ready to cruise home safely to a 6-8 record in front of 1,800 plus fans. The only problem though, Tom McBride and his ever-so-optimistic Lake Blue Streaks were not ready to admit defeat just yet. The Polar Bears saw their lead dwindle to as much as six points before hanging on for a wild 58-51 win that improved their record to 6-8 on the season and 3-3 in the Federal League. The win might have added some gray hairs to 30-year-old Jackson director Mike Fuline. "Wow…I wish it would have ended right there, it was getting to the point where we all were becoming exhausted," he said with a laugh. "We were only seven deep for this game and we played a good game. Give Lake and Coach McBride a lot of credit, they play just as hard as the other teams in the Federal League. They fought hard and they didn't give in or up. That's the sign of Lake Basketball." The Polar Bears attack was led by the backcourt seniors Danny Williams and Mike Nichols as they both finished with 15 and 13 points respectively. But senior center Mark Young did the most damage for the guests. He was the leading scorer for the team and the game overall as he finished with 20 points on six-of-ten shooting from the field while scoring seven pivotal points in the third quarter. "Those three players have played in the Jackson program for three years. They have experience and it is nice to see them step up the way they did tonight," Fuline said of his three senior starters. "We play hard as a team and we have done this for the last three years," Young said. "We had a 15-point lead at one point in the game." "We play hard as a brotherhood," Williams said while cutting in. The third quarter was the undoing of the hosts according to McBride. Missed shots and opportunities he felt was the difference. Although the Blue Streaks shot 67 percent from the field on six-of-nine shooting in the quarter, it was not enough to keep them from withstanding the Jackson assault. Lake led for most of the first half in building a 23-21 lead at halftime. However, it was the second half for Jackson that counted as they won that half by a commanding margin of 37-28 to get the win. However, he praised his team for making things interesting in the final minutes of the game. "We kept fighting tonight and we were wearing them down late. However, time ran out on us tonight. That's all." "I love this team. They have a lot of resiliency. We will work hard and get better with every game. We are going to put this one behind us and get ready to return to the Canton Memorial Field House for a game against Timken." Ross Nisly scored a furious seven points in the last Lake barrage. But four consecutive missed three-point shots cost Lake's chances to cut the lead from seven to four and even possibly one. They are now 6-8 and 1-5 in league play. Corey Niggel led Lake with 12 points. McBride later admitted that if two of those threes had gone down, the whole complexion of the game will have changed drastically. As for Jackson, they were gleeful to escape with the win but Fuline wants to see his team develop more of a killer instinct when they have teams down. "We need a killer instinct to finish off teams. Such a thing can be deadly once we can do it," Fuline said. "But we are working on it and we will have that." Lake was not going to accept defeat. Jackson had to work for every minute before they could cruise home triumphant. GAME STATS Field Goals: Jackson 20/42 (48%), Lake 22/50 (44%). Three-point goals: Jackson 5/15 (33%), Lake 3/13 (23%). Free throws: Jackson 15/21 (71%), Lake 7/14 (50%). Turnovers: Jackson 21, Lake 18. Fouls: Jackson 17, Lake 26.
JV game: Lake 52, Jackson 44 HARTVILLE-The Lake Blue Streaks junior varsity team posted a wire-to-wire 52-44 win in the reserve game at Lake High School to improve their record to 9-6 on the season. The Blue Streaks led for most of the game from the opening tip-off to the end of the game. "We lost to Jackson earlier in the season at Jackson by one point. So we had to come out and defend our home court to get the split," Lake head coach Scott Cassidy said. "This was a case of it being hard to beat a team twice in one season." |
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