Sports
Lawrence Defeats Lynbrook, 63-51
Golden Tornadoes get revenge for Owls eliminating them in football playoffs.
Ah, the sweet taste of revenge.
For the Lawrence varsity Golden Tornadoes basketball team, its 63-51 victory on Tuesday against the Lynbrook Owls was more than just a Conference A-II game.
With some players from the football team playing on Coach Peter Linderman's basketball squad, this game meant payback for for the second year in a row.
Lawrence's tenacious style of play on both ends of their home court clearly dominated an Owls team that was hurting with injuries. Linderman's aggressive full-court trapping schemes set the tempo early and forced the Owls to adapt to their game.
"That's our bread and butter, that's our style," Linderman said about his team's defense-first mantra.
The Lawrence defenders forced Lynbrook in to turnovers on the inbounds passes and in the back court, which lead to easy Golden Tornado buckets. Lawrence jumped out to a 10-point lead at halftime, 35-25.
After halftime, Owls coach Chris Rube found a way to beat Lawrence's full-court trap: run right through it. Owls guard Johnny Emmerich scored a game high 20 points, most coming from coast-to-coast lay-ins.
"Their pressure is excellent and they thrive off their press," Rube said about Lawrence. "That's where they manufacture most of their points. So for us we didn't want to give them easy buckets."
Despite solving the issue of the Golden Tornadoes swarming trap defense, Lynbrook (1-5,0-1) didn't have an answer for Lawrence's (3-2,2-1) offensive fire power.
Sophomore swingman Clifton Lyerly had 12 points to go with 14 rebounds, seven of which were offensive.
"[Lyerly]'s been huge for us. He's been stepping up all season long for us. I'm really happy for him," Linderman said.
Senior twin guards Ibraheem and Ahmad Shamseldin put a stop to any second-half Lynbrook surges with a combined 18 second-half points. Ahmad had six assists to go with zero turnovers as the team's point guard. Guard Eddie Robinson also had 11 points, as five Golden Tornadoes reached double-digit scoring numbers. Michael McVeigh added 11 points of his own and hit three 3-pointers for the Owls.
Lynbrook will host Sewanhaka on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.
