The Lakewood Leopard men’s basketball team were unable to keep pace with the James Kenan Tigers Monday night, getting stumped on the road in a game Kenan controlled from the start, the final 93-69.
The Leopards got behind early by a double-digit deficit, one they didn’t recover from. Putting up 15 to end their first quarter performance they allowed 25 by the Tigers.
Down 10 to start the second quarter, things didn’t change much for the visiting Leopards. While they scored one more than they did in the first period with 16, Kenan tacked on another 20. With plenty of offense from both teams in the first half Lakewood trailed Kenan 45-31 by the break.
Lakewood had its best showing of the night coming out of the halftime break. Hitting 24 in the third eight-minute period, it still did little to change the flow of the game as the Tigers had their biggest showing in the third as well. Going for 29, they further increased the lead going into the fourth.
With both teams seemingly getting tired, they each had their worst offensive output in the fourth quarter — Lakewood with only 14 and Kenan with 19 — bringing the game to its convincing conclusion.
The Leopards were beat on the glass as James Kenan controlled the boards all night, out-rebounding Lakewood 42-16.
Jacob Perez led the Leopards offense in this game with 23 points. Cameron Sessoms also had another big game with 18 and Melvin Henderson added 12 to wrap up the scoring leaders.
Lakewood stands at 0-7 on the year and will go for their first win when they hit the hardwood again next year, on Jan. 2. They play host to Rosewood in what will be their first conference game of the season.