Rowlett Lakeshore Times > Sports
Rowlett solidifies playoff position with win over Lakeview
By DEVIN HASSON/Staff Writer
Rowlett has had some troubles against the upper-tier teams of District 10-5A, but controls its own playoff destiny because it has taken care of business in the games it has needed to.
That was once again the case on Tuesday, as the Eagles turned it on in the second half to pull away from a Lakeview team fighting to keep its own playoff hopes alive in a 76-65 victory at Rowlett High School.
Rowlett (12-13, 6-4 in 10-5A) moved into a tie for third place with Garland and holds a two-game lead in the district standings over playoff contenders Rockwall and Lakeview with four games left to play.
“This is a big win, we’ve got to win the ones that are underneath us (in the district standings) and then worry about North and South,” Rowlett head coach Stan Blackmon said. “Last week (against Garland) was a big one for us but we let it get away. We are scratching and fighting and doing everything we can to get that playoff spot, and we did a good job tonight. … We had ups and downs, but we had more ups than downs.”
Lakeview led for most of the second quarter, but the tide turned late in the half courtesy of Devyn Crook. The senior guard, who hit his first four shots and had 21 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, took a perfect feed from Tyler Woods on an alley-oop dunk that made brought the Eagles to within a point.
On the ensuing possession, Crook stole the ball and raced the length of the court for another dunk that gave Rowlett a 37-36 halftime lead. Those two scores not only gave the Eagles the advantage, but got the crowd and team fired up.
“I saw they were kind of pushing up toward the point and weren’t paying attention to the backside,” said Crook of his first dunk. “I just pointed up (gesturing toward the rim), Tyler knew what that meant and he got it to me.… It was definitely a momentum swing, I got a couple of dunks and we started playing pretty good defense (in the second half).”
The Eagles capitalized on that momentum by outscoring the Patriots 20-11 in the third quarter to take a 57-47 lead. Lakeview had hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first half, but made just one in the second.
“We stopped letting them get the second and third shots and closed out on the 3-point attempts, because they were 3-for-9 on open looks and now, what happens if they catch fire. We’re in trouble, we’ve got close out those 3s,” Blackmon said. “We started doing that and started talking better and it worked out.”
Crook cooled off in the second half but controlled the game in other ways. He continually broke the Lakeview press and helped Jeremy Hall (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Georgio Walton (10 points, five rebounds) to have big finishes, combining for 23 points in the second half. In addition to his 28 points, Crook had seven rebounds and seven assists.
Lakeview’s Josh Crye was solid inside, scoring 17 points, but in trying to defend Hall, got into foul trouble, fouling out with more than seven minutes left.
“Hall made some big plays inside and took advantage of the big guy there in foul trouble, got him out of the way,” Blackmon said.
Hall had nine points in the fourth quarter, mostly on layups, as the Eagles led by as many as 16 points and never let the Patriots within nine in the fourth quarter.
Lakeview had started strong, overcoming 12 first-quarter points from Crook to take a 22-19 lead after one quarter following a 3-point play by Crye. They maintained that lead for much of the second quarter until Crook took over during the final two minutes of the half and set the tone for the rest of the game.
That was once again the case on Tuesday, as the Eagles turned it on in the second half to pull away from a Lakeview team fighting to keep its own playoff hopes alive in a 76-65 victory at Rowlett High School.
Rowlett (12-13, 6-4 in 10-5A) moved into a tie for third place with Garland and holds a two-game lead in the district standings over playoff contenders Rockwall and Lakeview with four games left to play.
“This is a big win, we’ve got to win the ones that are underneath us (in the district standings) and then worry about North and South,” Rowlett head coach Stan Blackmon said. “Last week (against Garland) was a big one for us but we let it get away. We are scratching and fighting and doing everything we can to get that playoff spot, and we did a good job tonight. … We had ups and downs, but we had more ups than downs.”
Lakeview led for most of the second quarter, but the tide turned late in the half courtesy of Devyn Crook. The senior guard, who hit his first four shots and had 21 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, took a perfect feed from Tyler Woods on an alley-oop dunk that made brought the Eagles to within a point.
On the ensuing possession, Crook stole the ball and raced the length of the court for another dunk that gave Rowlett a 37-36 halftime lead. Those two scores not only gave the Eagles the advantage, but got the crowd and team fired up.
“I saw they were kind of pushing up toward the point and weren’t paying attention to the backside,” said Crook of his first dunk. “I just pointed up (gesturing toward the rim), Tyler knew what that meant and he got it to me.… It was definitely a momentum swing, I got a couple of dunks and we started playing pretty good defense (in the second half).”
The Eagles capitalized on that momentum by outscoring the Patriots 20-11 in the third quarter to take a 57-47 lead. Lakeview had hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first half, but made just one in the second.
“We stopped letting them get the second and third shots and closed out on the 3-point attempts, because they were 3-for-9 on open looks and now, what happens if they catch fire. We’re in trouble, we’ve got close out those 3s,” Blackmon said. “We started doing that and started talking better and it worked out.”
Crook cooled off in the second half but controlled the game in other ways. He continually broke the Lakeview press and helped Jeremy Hall (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Georgio Walton (10 points, five rebounds) to have big finishes, combining for 23 points in the second half. In addition to his 28 points, Crook had seven rebounds and seven assists.
Lakeview’s Josh Crye was solid inside, scoring 17 points, but in trying to defend Hall, got into foul trouble, fouling out with more than seven minutes left.
“Hall made some big plays inside and took advantage of the big guy there in foul trouble, got him out of the way,” Blackmon said.
Hall had nine points in the fourth quarter, mostly on layups, as the Eagles led by as many as 16 points and never let the Patriots within nine in the fourth quarter.
Lakeview had started strong, overcoming 12 first-quarter points from Crook to take a 22-19 lead after one quarter following a 3-point play by Crye. They maintained that lead for much of the second quarter until Crook took over during the final two minutes of the half and set the tone for the rest of the game.
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