WELLS — Leading by six at the half, the Wells boys basketball team would pour it on down the stretch and top Lake Region 71-53 on Monday night.
Gavyn Leighton put on a show for Wells, putting up 13 points in the third quarter, including three 3-pointers, and 20 overall to help capture the victory for the Warriors.
“I thought my sophomore Gavyn played a really good game tonight on both sides of the ball. It was probably the best defensive night he’s had. Offensively, not always looking for 3-balls, but getting it underneath that zone and scoring inside,” said Wells head coach Troy Brown.
Dylan Whitney and Matt Tufts would both put up four points in the opening quarter to produce a 17-15 lead for the Warriors.
“I thought when we came out at the beginning, we looked OK. I thought we gave up a few too many points inside to them early. Our post defense wasn’t great and I thought they were getting some point-blank shots,” said Brown.
Lake Region pulled ahead early in the second quarter — but after four lead changes — Matt Sherburne would sink a 3-pointer and produce a lead that the Warriors would never relinquish. Wells would end the half with a 33-27 advantage over the Lakers.
“The second quarter, they were getting it inside to their horses which is their strength,” said Brown. “But For once this year, we were matching them at least point for point. Instead of them scoring six or eight and us only scoring two, we were at least staying even.”
Wells would dominate the third quarter, outscoring the Lakers 24-11 to extend their lead.
“I thought our pressure was working well though. I think that kind of set the tone for the game. Even when we didn’t turn them over, I thought that we were that up-tempo style,” said Brown. “Tyler (Bridge) made some great passes to (Leighton) out of the high post zone. I was pretty pleased about that, we didn’t have to settle for deep shots. We were getting some high percentage shots out of their zone. Then, in the first four minutes in the third quarter, I think our pressure wore them down a bit.”
In the fourth quarter, Lake Region would try to rally but only outpace Wells by one point to produce the final 71-53 score.
“The last couple years it’s been our forte, we’ve held teams down and hopefully tried to outscore them. Where tonight was a little different, we busted out and got some good breaks, made some shots and it was nice to see,” said Brown.
Sherburne and Tufts each had 10 points in the win. Bridge tossed in eight and had six rebounds.
The Warriors improve to 7-7 on the year, while Lake Region drops to 4-11.
Wells will host Traip Academy tonight.
“We come back tomorrow night, we have to play again against Traip. They’re 9-3. It’s a big game for us because we’d like to move up a spot,” said Brown. “We’re hoping to carry this one into tomorrow night into Traip.”
— Sports Writer Sienna Barstow can be reached at sbarstow@journaltribune.comor at 780-9018. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.