Lakewood nips Rosewood

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on January 4, 2007 2:33 PM

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Zach Faircloth had scored almost at will for Lakewood -- which was why he found himself triple teamed in the final seconds Wednesday night against Rosewood.

Through the chaos, Faircloth spotted a wide open Trey Boone standing under the basket.

Faircloth passed it to Boone who laid it in with seven seconds left for what proved to be the winning basket in the Leopards 53-51 victory.

"(Faircloth) had had such a good game -- we didn't want him to get off a shot at the end," said Rosewood coach Daniel Mitchell, whose team dropped to 2-9 on the season. "He did a good job of keeping his head up and finding the guy under the basket."

On the other end, Faircloth -- who poured in a game-high 27 points -- sealed the victory with a steal and dribble out the final seconds.

"We needed one more timeout," said Mitchell. "We definitely could have used that."

The Eagles played a solid first half -- especially on the defensive end -- to give themselves a chance at the end against a very talented Lakewood squad.

Rosewood's stiff interior defense held the Leopards to just five first-quarter points and led 14-5 after one.

"I thought we got out to a great start," said Mitchell. "We had a little trouble in the second quarter and that's when Zach really picked up his game."

Faircloth scored eight straight points in a 10-0 spurt to start the second quarter for Lakewood as the visitors took a 15-14 lead.

"(Faircloth) really put them on his back tonight," said Mitchell. "He did an outstanding job."

Rosewood eventually woke up and got two long three-pointers from Taylor Allen -- including one at the second quarter buzzer -- to take a 26-17 lead going into the locker room.

"We still had the lead going into the second half, but we didn't do a real good job of executing offensively after that," said Mitchell.

A layup by Dennis Jones to open the second quarter, gave Rosewood its largest lead of the evening at 28-17, but things began to go south following that.

Jones led Rosewood with 14 points, seven rebounds and a block shot.

"(Jones) has been playing really well the last two games," said Mitchell. "He's been doing a good job underneath (the basket)."

The Leopards then took advantage of seven Eagle turnovers to outscore Rosewood 20-9 the rest of the quarter to tie the game at 37-37 entering the final period.

With the momentum squarely on Lakewood's side, Rosewood struggled to find any rhythm on offense.

The Eagles didn't make a field goal until a layup by Sean Corman with 3:00 to play, but were fortunate to trail by only four at 47-43.

The lead remained at four with 32 seconds left when Jones made two free-throws to cut the lead in half.

On Lakewood's ensuing possession, Stephen McIntyre knocked the ball away from Eric Williams in the back court and drilled a short jumper to tie the game with 16 seconds left. The heroics of Faircloth and Boone bailed out Lakewood, who were able to get out with their 10th victory of the season.

"Even though we didn't execute well offensively, I thought we played with a lot of heart and played well defensively to give us a chance in the end," said Mitchell.

The Rosewood girls were more fortunate, winning 44-34 over Lakewood -- even though the Eagles literally tried to give away the game in the second half.

During the first half, Rosewood (4-6) shut down Lakewood (4-9) holding the Leopards to four first quarter points and 10 second.

On offense, the Eagles made shots inside and outside while taking care of the basketball. Rosewood committed just five first-half turnovers.

Rosewood drilled four first-half three-pointers -- two by Courtney Hill -- to lead 28-14 at halftime.

In the second half, Lakewood went into a full-court press, which frustrated the Eagles into turnovers and fewer scoring opportunities.

"(Lakewood) came out fired up in the second half and they put a lot of pressure on us," said Rosewood coach Debbie Bailey.

Rosewood had twice as many turnovers (10) as it had points (5) in the third quarter, but still led by nine at 33-24.

Unable to put many baskets on the board in their half-court offense, Rosewood used their defense to force turnovers and create easy scoring chances.

Guard Shanita Monroe -- who filled up the box score with nine points, seven steals, three rebounds and a block -- scored off a steal to push the lead back to 11 at 37-26.

Hill then scored three of her game-high 14 points on an old fashioned three-point play off another Leopard turnover, making the lead 14 with 4:58 to play.

"They're team leaders," said Bailey of Monroe and Hill. "They set the pace for the team. They're a good pair."

The lead was enough to compensate for six straight turnovers by Rosewood, whose lead never got less than eight the rest of the night.

"We still need to work on a few things but we're getting there," said Bailey. "We've just got to gel together as a team and I think that's happening. Hopefully we're ready for conference play."

Boys game

Lakewood 5 12 20 13 -- 53

Rosewood 14 12 14 11 -- 51

LAKEWOOD (10-3)

Zach Faircloth 10 1 4-4 27, Marcus Graham 2 1 5-6 12, Trey Boone 4 0 0-0 8, Josh Owens 0 0 4-6 4, Eric Williams 1 0 0-1 2, Donovan Williams 0 0 0-2 0. TOTALS -- 17 2 13-19 53.

ROSEWOOD (2-9)

Dennis Jones 5 0 4-4 14, Stephen McIntyre 2 0 5-8 9, Taylor Allen 1 2 0-0 8, Holt Rains 3 0 0-0 6, Sean Corman 3 0 0-0 6, Adrian Dahranj 1 0 1-2 3, Wayne Hammonds 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler Muntz 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS --16 3 10-14 51.

Girls game

Lakewood 4 10 10 10 -- 34

Rosewood 12 16 5 11 -- 44

LAKEWOOD (4-9)

Sharnee Crumpler 4 0 4-7 12, Margo Newkirk 4 0 0-0 8, Nikky Devincentis 2 0 0-0 4, Ieasha Kerr 2 0 0-0 4, Kirsten Carr 2 0 0-0 4, Cecily Owens 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 0 4-7 34.

ROSEWOOD (4-6)

Courtney Hill 3 2 2-3 14, Kasie Braswell 3 1 3-6 12, Shanita Monroe 3 0 3-4 9, Haile Meadows 2 1 0-0 7, Mary Moore 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 12 4 8-12 44.