LHS boys team shows warts against Hamilton

Lawrence boys basketball

By: Jim Green
   The Lawrence High School boys basketball team’s season-opening win over Notre Dame was an example of how good it eventually should be, when everything is clicking. But the Cardinals’ loss to Hamilton on Tuesday was a more accurate description of where they’re at right now.
   With several newcomers playing key minutes, and some key seniors from last year’s team lost to graduation, Lawrence coach Pat Tarrant expected it to take a while for his team to gel.
   That’s what made the Cardinals’ 50-39 win Friday on the road against a quality Notre Dame squad so surprising. But the Cardinals received notice on Tuesday night that there was still plenty of work to be done in order for them to get where they want to be, as Lawrence dropped a 72-39 home decision in front of a standing-room only crowd to the athletic Hornets.
   "The Notre Dame game, we played really hard — we looked like a team in the second half," Tarrant said. "We haven’t been together long enough for that to happen. Tonight (Tuesday night), we looked like a bunch of individuals out there. We got outplayed."
   Senior center Brett Brackett had his second straight 21-point game to open the season — giving him 932 points for his career — and pulled down six rebounds, but the rest of the Cardinals struggled to get on track against the high-powered Hornets.
   Hamilton opened by scoring the first nine points of the game and never seemed to look back. A Brackett 3-pointer with 2:22 left in the first quarter pulled Lawrence within 14-10, but the Hornets ended the period on an 8-0 run. The Cardinals went on a 6-0 run of their own to draw within 11 points late in the second quarter, but a foul and a turnover led to four quick points for Hamilton, which took a 37-22 lead into the locker room. The second half was all Hornets, as the Cardinals never cut the deficit to fewer than 15 points.
   Despite the disappointing result, Tarrant isn’t about to panic. The 200-win coach knows it takes time for a team to meld. In fact, last year’s team, which finished 17-9, was playing far from its best ball at the beginning of the season.
   "We started slow last year," Tarrant said. "In the second half of the season, they were tight on the court. We’re not there yet. We’re trying to do too much individually. It’s all stuff that can be corrected. It’s only December 20th.
   "We have a lot of new faces. On Friday, we displayed the team we can be."
   Tarrant said his team is being forced to live up to high expectations that were forced on it before it even played a game.
   "There’s a lot of pressure on these guys," he said. "They’ve been hearing for two months how great they’re going to be — that’s a bunch of nonsense. We haven’t taken a beating like this in a long time. It has to help the team."
   The Cardinals will be off for more than a week before taking part in Hopewell Valley’s John Molinelli Memorial Tournament. Their first opponent will be St. Peter’s (N.Y.) at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, while the host Bulldogs will face Hillsborough in the first round.
   "They (the Cardinals) stayed positive," Tarrant said. "They’re ready to come back to work and get after it."