Lake Norman 36 – Arborbrook (MS) 26
The Falcons (5-6) middle school started out slow and could never recover in a 36-26 loss to a good shooting Lake Norman team. The Falcons normally start out slow and this time they dug an 11-0 hole before Ryan Brown got us on the board with 40 seconds left in the first quarter. We took only six shots in the first quarter and never got into a good offensive flow because of the numerous turnovers. The Falcons settled down in the second quarter and started shooting good open shots that seemed to rim out. Lake Norman is a very good shooting team and did not take nearly as many shots but knocked down the ones they did and extended the lead to 14. Ryan Brown banked in a 3 pointer from the cornor and Joel VanDusen hit a shot from just left of the lane to trim the Lake Norman lead to 11 points at half time. Trailing 20-9, coach felt we had played them even in the second quarter and could make our move in the third. Our goal was to start out fast and cut the lead in half and win the game in the 4th quarter. Sounds good but it didn’t work. We once again started out slow in the third quarter with three straight turnovers and the Lake Norman offense beating us down the floor for two straight baskets. Trailing by 15 we regrouped once again and controlled the flow of the game for the rest of the quarter with Caleb Robinson and Kyle Boutross providing the offense. The score was 28-15 when the fourth quarter started and the Falcons became the team they can be. Caleb Robinson made a power move to the basket, Joel VanDusen grabbed a huge rebound and put it back in, Ryan Brown hit a 3 pointer from the cornor and followed with a 2 point shot from inside. The defense played tough and created turnovers or held Lake Norman to one hurried shot. It was now a 28-24 game and Lake Norman was feeling the pressure with 3 minutes to go. As so often happens in sports, the momentum suddenly shifted when Lake Norman’s big guy scored on a rebound after a missed shot and then banked in a shot from the cornor to extend the lead to eight. Ryan Brown would add two free throws but the Falcons would get no closer and went on to lose 36-26. It was a good game. We did not play well the first quarter and it probably cost us the game but Lake Norman is a good team and we played them better than even the rest of the way. The players played hard and never gave up. The fourth quarter run is the third time thay have done that this year. We lost this one on the score board but won in every other area that we count. So, we move on to the next game as the season is starting to wind down.
For the Record: Ryan Brown scored 14 points knocking down 2 three pointers and hitting 4 of 8 from the free throw line. Ryan also had 10 rebounds and 1 steal. Caleb Robinson scored 6 points with 8 rebounds and 1 steal. Joel VanDusen added 4 points with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Kyle Boutross scored 2 points with 6 rebounds and 1 steal. Matthew Pedemonte pulled down 3 rebounds with 1 steal. Conor Murdock came up with 1 assist.
