The Midway Raiders used 22 points from Shyheim Small and 21 from Dariuss Perez to earn their first win of the season, a 78-59 win over the Lakewood Leopards.
Things weren’t always easy for the Raiders, as Lakewood shot the ball great from the outside in the first half, and were finding success in the paint. After trailing by 7 after the first quarter, the Leopards cut it to 35-31 at halftime, thanks to a last second lay-up by Johnnie Owens.
Owens had a good outing for the Leopards, leading them in scoring with 17 points. He was a problem for the Raiders in the first half, as he knocked down 3 shots from behind the arc.
In the third quarter, the Raiders began to finally get in a flow. Perez began knocking down shots, and Paris Smith began to score effectively inside. Midway built a 62-45 lead after the third, and then coasted to the 19 point win in the fourth.
Smith added 17 points to the Midway line.
Midway’s head coach, Matthew Creech did not like the way his team played, with the exception of them doing what they needed to do to win. “I thought we were pretty bad for a while,” he said. “Hats off to Lakewood, they came out with a lot of intensity that we did not match. I’m glad we were able to do the win, but we have to get a lot better. I have to do a better job of coaching and getting my team ready to go out there and play.”
Lakewood’s head coach Sylvester Pittman was thrilled with his team’s intensity, and admitted that Midway was a really good team. “Those guys are really good,” said Pittman when talking about his team’s opponent. “I cannot dare complain about our intensity, because it was really good. We just kind of ran out of steam in the second half, but it was a good outing for a while for our guys, I thought,” finished the Leopard coach.
Lakewood is now 0-1 on the season, and Midway improves to 1-0, as it was each team’s opener. Lakewood is back home this Friday when they host Union. Midway hosts Triton on Thursday before heading over to Hobbton High School on Friday night.