STEVE GOLDMAN
EUCLID — The Lakeside boys’ plan against Geneva on Saturday evening was to grab the lead and then go into the zone defense.
That’s what happened, albeit much later than they had hoped. Still, the Dragons came away with a 44-38 win to earn the first sectional crown in their history.
The feisty Eagles used their familiar deliberate style of offensive play to their advantage for much of the night. But Lakeside’s Emilio Parks, who scored just four points in the first three periods, put in 11 in the fourth quarter to total 15, along with 14 rebounds and four blocked shots. Parks played a major role in Lakeside’s ability to string together 13 consecutive points in the final period, turning a 26-23 deficit into a 36-26 advantage.
“(Parks) did what he had to do to get the win,” Lakeside coach Rob Pisano, who rotated just six players, said.
“It’s very tough to play (the way we want to),” Geneva coach Marhefka said. “You’ve got to be disciplined and be able to execute, and I think we made some poor decisions (down the stretch). We got into the paint and tried to force some things. We needed just to be a little bit more patient, and it may have been all right.”
Third-seeded Lakeside (18-4) moves on to play Mentor in a Division I district semifinal contest on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Cardinals are the top seed in the Euclid district, and are ranked fifth in Ohio in Division I. Mentor (19-3) annihilated 10th-seeded South, 115-50, in the secong game Saturday night.
The Dragons had previously defeated the Eagles in two Premier Athletic Conference clashes — first by a 52-48 count at Lakeside on Dec. 15, and then one month later at Geneva, 63-51.
For most of Saturday’s tilt, the ninth-seeded Eagles (7-14) forced the Dragons to play at a slower pace. Lakeside was able to speed it up for a brief time when it ran off six straight points to turn a 17-15 halftime deficit into a 21-17 lead.
However, the Dragons couldn’t sustain it that time. Tyler Erb (11 points) tallied all seven of his team’s points in the third period while Lakeside netted just two more, for a 24-23 edge.
Erb’s three-point play with 8.3 seconds left in the frame gave the Eagles that one-point lead.
But after Erb found Jake Bowser (6 assists) for a layup and a 26-23 advantage, the Dragons were finally able to do things according to their plan.
“I wanted to get a six- or eight-point lead early and get in that zone, because we didn’t want to chase them,” Pisano said. “They have seniors who we knew were going to fight hard. Some of those guys have been there a long time and they know how to play. And they played the right way.
“Against that team, we can’t really press them, because then you create offense for them because they handle the ball so well. We knew it was going to be a long night if we couldn’t get a couple breakaway layups to break it open early.”
It took Lakeside a while, but it finally did get three layups and another close-range basket while pushing the tempo at times, enabling it to take the lead for good.
First Cody Blizzard scored on a drive. Then Parks stole the ball in the backcourt, and from the floor, he passed to Brendan Hester (12 points) for a layup and the lead.
Still in its deliberate offense, Geneva kept the ball for more than 45 seconds, but lost it on a Hester steal. After a timeout, Emonte Parks bounced it inside to brother Emilio who converted a three-point play for a 30-26 advantage at the 5:58 mark. Exactly two minutes later, Emilio Parks followed in a missed shot, making it 32-26.
From that juncture, the Dragons sank 12-of-16 free throws to salt it. After seeing the ball stolen twice more, Geneva finally broke the scoreless streak at the 2:23 mark when Joey Streets (12 points) hit his third of four treys to make it 36-29. The Eagles hit two more triples, but never again got closer than six points.
“They don’t have the greatest shooters, so we knew we could play them zone,” Pisano said. “We played them zone the last two times and were able to handle them pretty well. (But) you’ve got to get a lead to play the zone, or they (will) just (stand) there with it.”
Rashaad Bell grabbed six rebounds for Lakeside. Hester did a fine defensive job on Erb, who eventually fouled out with 1:40 left.
Marhefka praised his team for the defensive job it did on Emilio Parks for three quarters.
“Our guys played excellent defense in the back,” he said. “Cory Morrow did a great job, and Tyler and Jimmy (Haines) sagged off. And they were very good in doing what we wanted to execute.”
“That wasn’t necessarily their defense; that was because they held the ball,” Pisano said. “That’s what I told Emilio at halftime. I said, ‘They’re not shutting you down necessarily; they’re holding the ball.’ I said, ‘Our whole team only has 15. When have you seen that all year?’”
Lakeside was 15 of 35 (42.9 percent) from the floor as compared to 13 of 40 (32.5 percent) for Geneva. Uncharacteristically, the Dragons did not hit any 3-point shots, but benefited from the late trips to the foul line, going 14 of 21 from the stripe while Geneva was seven of 11.
Goldman is a freelance writer from South Euclid.
