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Return to form: Lovejoy opens playoffs with 23-point blistering of Hallsville
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
It feels like an eternity ago that the Lovejoy boys basketball team clinched the District 13-4A Championship.
That happened Feb. 1 and on Monday, the games started meaning something again for the Leopards. They responded accordingly, opening their first Class 4A postseason with a 56-33 clubbing of Hallsville at Wills Point High School.
"I think we showed a little rust in the first quarter after not having played in nearly a week," said Kyle Herrema, Lovejoy head coach. "We were rusty offensively, but in the second quarter we got loose and played really good defense in the first half."
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"We knew that Blankenship was their best scorer so we really hugged him all night long and he really didn't get many clean shots," Herrema said. "We did a good job on their big guy inside (Gideon), so I think we took away their two best scoring options and really did a good job of keeping them out of the paint."
The Bobcats didn't have as much success on defense, with Lovejoy shaking off an 11-point first quarter to pour on a 16-2 margin in the second stanza for a 27-8 lead at halftime.
"I think that run really hurt Hallsville's confidence for the rest of the game," Herrema said.
The well-rounded defensive effort translated on offense with five Leopards scoring at least six. Senior Cameron Knight led that pack by hounding the glass for a game-high 14 points while seniors Trevor Eckard and Jake Flaggert added 11 and eight, respectively.
"Cameron was really active last night and ran really hard in transition," Herrema said. "That's the kind of player he is and I challenged him before the game and told him that with his long body that this is a game where he could hit the offensive glass really hard and he did a great job with that."
The Leopards rode their first-half momentum the rest of the way, with Hallsville scoring 25 of its 33 points over the final two quarters. That wasn't enough to offset the 29 points Lovejoy scored in the second half, with the Leopards cinching their first 4A playoff win behind their most lopsided victory since Jan. 25.
"We clinched district so quickly that I think we had been just waiting for the playoffs to start," Herrema said. "It's tough to keep them motivated for seemingly meaningless games, but I think they've been chomping at the bit for a game like this and they played really well."
Lovejoy returns to the court for area playoff action Friday against Tyler John Tyler with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff from Terrell High School.
The road gets no easier for the Leopards, locked in a Region II bracket that includes five teams ranked in the state's top eight, according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.
For continued news and coverage on the local sports scene, follow @MWelchSCN on Twitter.
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