BOB ETTINGER
SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — Lakeside boys basketball coach Rob Pisano wanted his team to pick up a little defensive steam for it’s next game.
So, with the Dragons leading Conneaut by 12 entering the fourth quarter on Tuesday night, Pisano set a lofty goal for his team, hoping it would pick up that momentum.
The Dragons very nearly reached Pisano’s goal and raced to an 82-49 non-conference victory over the Spartans.
“In the third quarter, we were a little sluggish,” Pisano said. “We hadn’t been playing the defense that we played at the beginning of the year. Before the fourth quarter, I seriously told the guys we wanted to try and get a shutout quarter going into Friday (a home matchup with North).
“I’m glad to see the guys get back to the defense that got us to our record (12-3, 8-2 in Premier Athletic Conference) in the fourth quarter. I told them I wanted them to carry that into the playoffs.”
After Andrew Bunnell scored on an assist from Chris Howland, the Spartans (8-8) trailed by just 10, 52-42, with 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Those were the last points the Spartans would score for 6:51.
The Dragons scored the last bucket of the third period and the first 24 points of the fourth for a 26-0 run that spanned 5:35.
“I told the guys I was proud of the way they played for the first three quarters,” Conneaut coach Tim Tallbacka said. “It was 24-0 to start the fourth quarter. We rolled over in the fourth. We can’t accept that. They shouldn’t accept that. I shouldn’t accept it.”
Emilio Parks finished with a team-high 36 points, 14 rebounds and four steals for Lakeside.
“We tried to pressure the guards with a scheme out front,” Tallbacka said. “We had our backs against the wall with (Parks) any time he got the ball inside 15 feet. Unfortunately, early in the fourth quarter we got away from what we were doing with the pressure and it cost us dearly.”
After Parks, Rashaad Bell tallied 17 points, Brendan Hester scored 13 points and Cody Blizzard added nine points.
“I love it,” Pisano said. “They shared the ball. They didn’t care who scored the points. They just hit the open guy.
“We had mostly open shots. We scored 80 points off fairly easy looks. That means we were running the offense, I guess.”
The Dragons had 17 assists as a group. Khalil Chatman and Emonte Parks led the way with five each and Hester had four.
Bunnell led the Spartans with 17 points, Howland (4 assists) scored 11 and Steve Joslin added 10.
