KARL PEARSON
SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — Sometimes, when a team, however unintentionally, focuses on individual goals, that pursuit becomes such a factor that it detracts from the team performance.
That may well have been the case early in the Lakeside boys basketball team’s Premier Athletic Conference game Friday with South. The Dragons seemed so intent on getting senior forward Emilio Parks to the goal of becoming Lakeside’s first boys player to reach 1,000 career points that it struggled within the team concept.
Once Parks reached that milestone, though, on a free throw with 34.1 seconds left in the second quarter to record his 12th point of the night, the Dragons settled down to work on getting a victory. A strong second half produced it with a 60-48 win over the Rebels.
Parks finished the night with a game high 28 points to reach 1,016 with at least seven more games remaining. He also led with 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. He even mixed in three assists and a steal. He became the second Lakeside basketball player to top 1,000 career points, following the lead of girls standout Darrah Smith, who scored 1,224 from 2005-08.
Parks almost would rather not have had such an issue to get in the way. He tried not to focus on it, but the Lakeside fans and his teammates wouldn’t let him forget it.
“I wasn’t trying to concentrate on scoring 1,000 points, but it was kind of tough,” he said. “I tried to stay in the zone, but every time I scored, somebody would tell me I only had to score a couple more or one more.
“It was a relief when I got it. It felt like it was going to take forever. But it does feel special. I’ve had so many friends that had the chance and didn’t, so it feels great to be the first.”
Lakeside coach Rob Pisano said the focus on Parks’ goal might have been a bit of a distraction for the Dragons (11-3, 8-2).
“I don’t know if we were thinking about that because we knew Emilio was going to get to 1,000,” he said. “But we weren’t running our zone offense. We didn’t attack their defense well. We were standing around.
“But maybe we were thinking about that because it took until the third quarter for us to get going. The offense started to run better and we picked up the pace.”
It was probably a good thing, then, that nobody from a Lakeside standpoint knew of another distinction reached by Parks. A resident of the old Ashtabula High School district, he became the first person that might otherwise have ties to the old Panthers to reach 1,000 career points. Four girls from Ashtabula earned that distinction before the school was consolidated into Lakeside, but no boys. Six Harbor High School boys topped 1,000 points for their career before the schools consolidated.
“That really makes me feel good,” Parks said. “That really means a lot because I know how great the Ashtabula program was.”
Pisano was equally impressed.
“That’s one heck of an achievement,” he said. “It makes it even better because we’ve all heard what a great program Ashtabula had.”
South coach Mark Habat was duly impressed with the Dragons and Parks.
“The ball didn’t go in the hole at the beginning of the game, which made it difficult,” he said. “Give credit to Rob and his staff for that.
“Emilio is a very, very good player. He deserves that honor.”
It was slow going, with South (5-12, 5-7) actually grabbing an 11-8 lead after the first quarter. But Lakeside gradually warmed to the task, as Parks scored 10 points in the second quarter on the way to his milestone to help the Dragons grab a 25-19 halftime lead.
The Dragons got cranking at both ends of the court in the third quarter, opening with a 10-2 run highlighted by a Parks dunk and natural three-point play that eventually produced a 39-25 lead entering the fourth quarter, which was basically played to a standoff.
Lakeside beat South with balance. Parks was the only Dragon in double figures, but Brendan Hester added nine and Rashaad Bell contributed eight. That offset 13 points and nine rebounds by Devyn Woods, 12 points off the bench from Cal Rainey and nine from Ray Russ for South.
Habat is so impressed with Lakeside that he hopes he doesn’t have to face it again, which could happen since both are in the Division I sectional-district tournament at Euclid.
“They’d certainly be a team I wouldn’t want to play again,” he said with a slight smile.
Meanwhile, Pisano hopes the Dragons can continue on their roll to possibly earn a seed with the likes of state-ranked Mentor and Brush in the field. He believes Parks will be a key factor in getting Lakeside to that status.
“I’m so proud of Emilio,” he said. “I’ve been coaching him since the eighth grade. He’s a great leader. He always plays the game all out.
“I couldn’t be prouder of him, on or off the court.”
