Crusaders Complete Season Sweep of Lakeside Despite Brown’s 39

Crusaders Complete Season Sweep of Lakeside Despite Brown’s 39
By Steven Dion

The 3A runner-up from a season ago has unveiled its new gym, a spectacular venue for high school basketball. All that is missing at this point for Lakeside is a win at the new house. The Lions would get their chance to pick up that victory Friday night against Eastside Catholic following up a 53 point performance by Isiah Brown last week against O’Dea. The Crusaders have established themselves as a formidable force in the Metro League with a combination of athleticism and precision shooting. The Lions would need a complete thirty-two minutes of play to take down their division foe sitting ahead in the standings.

An energetic Lakeside student section gave their Lions a lift early as Brown knocked down his first two shots, a double-clutch jumper and a rainmaker from the perimeter. Freshman guard Daejon Davis jumped the passing lane on a Crusader possession and finished strong with a highlight dunk. Eastside Catholic demonstrated their multi-faceted scoring abilities as slashing buckets at the cup and three-balls began to fall. ECHS set a tough trap in the Lakeside backcourt which gave Lion guards trouble with their entry passes into the offensive zone. The Crusaders were 8/19 from downtown in the ballgame. A double-digit lead ECHS built midway through the second frame was cut to seven going into halftime. At the break, the visitors led 34-27.

Lakeside rallied behind their freshman prodigy Daejon Davis early in the third as the 6’2” guard forced his way into the paint on several trips down the floor. His aggressiveness led to eight points in that third frame for the Lions. Crusader senior Ian Christie twisted his ankle and did not return in the ballgame for EC. Brown continued to sizzle throughout that second half as the bulk of his game-high 39 points came in the final sixteen minutes of the contest. Despite allowing the Lions to tie the ball game in the second half, the Crusaders retained their composure by knocking down buckets when needed. The exclamation point in the game was a tomahawk slam by forward Matisse Thybulle. When the buzzer sounded, ECHS picked up their eighth league win to the tune of a 73-68 victory.

Top Performer:
Lakeside
Isaiah Brown – 39 points (11/23 FG’s, 14/16 FT’s)