Sampson runs on dunkin’

In Friday night’s late slate, the Lakewood boys looked to remain unbeaten in conference play over Union, while the Spartans looked to play spoiler. It was a routing by the Leopards, who won 75-36, but both teams had plenty of high-flying action.

Lakewood took the first tip, and Jaziah Brunson tried to connect with Xavier Hall on an early alley oop, but the big man couldn’t corral the pass. Union’s Mikhail McNeil scored the game’s first points on a drive through the middle over Hall. Cameron Williams scored first for Lakewood on a jumper from the right side to tie it up.

Union’s defense came out of the gate strong, limiting Lakewood’s opportunities wherever they could. These defensive stands didn’t amount to many points for the Spartans, but they were able to keep the high-scoring offense of the Leopards in check early. Rebounding was another thing working in Union’s favor in the first few minutes, as they were able to grab many contested boards.

A three from Juan Parker Jr. for Lakewood and another jumper from Williams pushed the score out to 9-2 with 3:03 left in the first, as Union called for the game’s first timeout.

Dashaun Carr put Lakewood into double digits on a foul shot, and Williams cleaned up the rebound on his next one to make it a 10-point advantage at 12-2 before sinking the free throw to make it 13-2 just north of two minutes to play in the opening period.

A rebound and subsequent put back from Myron Sykes would score the Spartans’ second basket of the game, making it a score of 16-4, one that held until the first intermission.

Hall missed his first dunk of the night near the seven-minute mark, but got retribution shortly after and slammed one home for Lakewood’s first points of the second quarter. Union made a foul shot, and the score was 18-5 in favor of the Leopards.

Williams sank a pair of free throws to make it 24-5 near the five-minute mark, as Lakewood was cruising to a big lead.

Things would continue moving in Lakewood’s favor with the score 33-6 with under a minute to play in the half and plenty of reserves in for the Leopards.

The scoreboard showed a halftime lead of 35-6 for the visiting Leopards.

The Spartans started with the ball in the second half, but their first possession ended with a misfire for a Manny Adams three. The first points of the half came at the other end on a Parker triple, before Brunson would have a near-dunk of his own and Hall would send another slam through the hoop to make it 42-6.

Ayden Wrampe made a pair of free throws to add two more for the Spartans, but Dashaun Carr fed Parker for another three. Adams got a put-back in front of the hoop for another pair of points as the shootout was on.

With 4:39 still to play in the third, Lakewood had the commanding 45-14 lead, and substituted in five of their bench players to give their starters a rest. Devin Jones was fouled on a layup and he sank both his free throws to extend the Leopards’ lead, but Wrampe fired back with a big man finisher at the other end to get two back.

Another three from Parker would give Lakewood the 31-point advantage at 50-19 with just over three minutes to play in the third quarter. Nakai Owens would get in the box score with a jumper of his own on the left baseline.

Adams came up with another steal for the Spartans, which led to a long three-point attempt for him at the other end, which was off the mark. Lakewood continued to win every facet of the game as the third quarter ticked down and the game started to come to a close.

Adams got a dunk of his own on a breakaway, eliciting a big response from the hometown crowd despite the deficit.

It would be a 59-23 ball game to end the third.

Adams started the fourth quarter off with a three ball for the Spartans. McNeil came up with a block on Hall as the big man went towards the rim with power.

With nearly three minutes elapsed in the fourth, Lakewood moved to a 64-28 lead. Nathan Pitts extended it with a foul line jumper and Wrampe answered with a layup of his own for the Spartans.

The score would go final at 75-36 in favor of Lakewood.

While Lakewood’s head coach Brandon Powell had plenty of praise for his 14-1 squad, he noted that there are still some things that need improvement. “Defense is always going to be the most important thing,” he said. “Making sure we stay aggressive defensively and communicate well. We kind of got away from that a few games ago, and we definitely addressed that in a physical way.”