By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Silver Lake boys basketball team stormed back from a third-period deficit to get by visitor Perry Lecompton Friday night, 59-52.
When Perry Lecompton’s Marius Carlsen and Eli Dean buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Kaws a 48-42 lead with a minute remaining in the third quarter, all the momentum shifted away from the Eagles.
Senior Jared Johnson (33) sparked a second-half Silver Lake rally in Friday's 59-52 win over Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But senior Jared Johnson grabbed the momentum right back by canning a three of his own. Johnson sparked a 12-0 run that swung the game. The Eagles locked down on defense, holding Perry Lecompton to just four points over the final nine minutes of the game.
“I wasn’t really shooting the ball that well and I just felt like I wasn’t getting my shot,” Johnson said. “But one of my teammates said, ‘Just let the thing fly.’ And I thought, 'I can’t let my team down. They need me to shoot.’ So, I did, and it turned from there.”
Perry Lecompton had to adjust with their leading scorer, Ronnie Baker, relegated to the bench with foul trouble. After missing much of the first half, the junior reeled off eight points in the first 2:30 of the third period. But two more fouls ended his evening.
Carlsen, a senior exchange student from Norway, introduced himself with 22 points for the Kaws, including four 3-pointers.
“That’s a good team over there,” Silver Lake coach Shannon Kruger said. “We had a lot of respect for them coming in, and they were as advertised. They made a few plays and hit a couple of shots.”
Kruger said his senior-laden team is prepared to withstand adversity like a third-quarter deficit.
“I was proud of them. We talk about ‘Next play, next play’ whatever happens, and they buy into it, Kruger said. “I thought we responded well to (the six-point deficit). We hit a couple of big shots to answer. Overall, I thought it was a good effort from start to finish.”
Junior Dayne Johnson led Silver Lake with 21 points in Friday's 59-52 win over Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Dayne Johnson led the Eagles with 21 points. Jared Johnson scored 16 and Brody Deiter added 14.
“We hadn’t worked a lot (in preparation to face a) zone, and they played almost exclusively zone on us,” Kruger said. “Our guys could have made excuses or not responded very well to that, but they just kept playing and the playmakers just made plays.”
SILVER LAKE BOYS 59, PERRY LECOMPTON 52
Perry Lecompton 13 12 23 10 -- 52
Silver Lake 17 16 14 12 -- 59
Perry Lecompton (0-1, 0-1) – Baker 4-6 2-2 12, Kaniper 2-9 0-0 5, Carlson 6-12 6-8 22, Dean 2-9 2-2 7, A. Graves 1-5 2-4 4, Rush 0-0 0-0 0, Tucker 1-6 0-0 2 E. Graves 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-47 12-16 52.
Silver Lake (1-0, 1-0) – D. Johnson 8-15 5-9 21, Deiter 6-13 2-2 14, Whitehead 0-2 0-2 0, J. Johnson 4-8 5-6 16, Strausbaugh 0-1 0-0 0, Coffman 3-3 0-0 6, Bergmann 1-2 0-0 2, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Razzano 0-0 0-4 0, Rooks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-45 12-23 59.
3-point goals – Perry Lecompton 8 (Carlsen 4, Baker 2, Kaniper 1, Dean 1), Silver Lake 3 (J. Johnson 3). Total fouls – Perry Lecompton 21, Silver Lake 16. Fouled out – Baker, Tucker, Dean. Technical fouls – Coffman.
