Shorthanded Lenox boys can’t run with Monument

LENOX – The sick bug bit the Lenox boys’ basketball team hard last week, as Coach Scott Sibley’s team was down four players in its 59-45 loss to Monument.

“The kids came out and worked hard, we know we had a short bench – we had to call up a JV player, Zach Huber, yet even if we had only five players – we have to step up and play,” Sibley said.

The Millionaires did that in the first half, trailing by one after the first quarter, 12-11, and somehow clawed back in the second quarter with forced turnovers and getting to the free-throw line to stay within reach at 34-24 at the half.

Yet without their big man in the middle, 6’3” Jared Tuttle, and fellow seniors Tom Duffin, Tony Martino, and Liam Gennari also out, the Spartans utilized their size and 6’5” center Ezra Marcus (16 rebounds) to control the boards for multiple second-chance opportunities.

“[Marcus] played better, he was a factor,” Monument Head Coach Mike Saporito said. “We look for him to control the boards and to his credit, he was a factor on the boards and defensively.”

Monument went up early in the third when Brandon Curtin drove the court for the easy bucket; the Spartans were up 43-26 with 5:16 left in the quarter.

Yet, with Lenox’s star player, Andrew Vickery, out with foul trouble, the team battled back with an up-tempo style, to cut the lead back to 10 (44-34) with a Cam Sibley lay-up with 1:43 left in the third.

After a pair of Lenox free throws cut it down to eight, at 44-36, Curtin came up with a steal and went coast-to-coast to put the Spartans back up at 46-36 to start the fourth.

“To give my guys credit, whenever [Lenox] got back into the game, we had a clutch shot or a clutch steal that resulted in a breakaway lay-up,” Saporito said.

Lenox had one more run in them late, as Robert Tharion had a big block before adding two free throws on the other end. Tharion then added an add-1 on the end of a drive to cut the Spartan lead to 48-40 with 5:39 left in the game.

Leading scorer Peter Oggiani (23 points) then knocked down a three to put Monument up 11, 51-40, with 3:55 left, before Lenox answered with a Bailey Patella floater in the lane to cut it to 51-42.

However, the final three minutes belonged to Monument’s Marcus, who worked tirelessly on the boards in the final minutes to put the game away at 52-42 while adding a free throw.

“It was a sweet win for us; Lenox beat us in overtime last year to keep us out of the tournament, so it was nice to get that monkey off our back,” Saporito said. “We can play better; we have guys who can stick shots but we have to get better play out of Jason Laramee. We all have confidence in him we just need him to stick some shots [underneath] and get some confidence.”

For Lenox, they hope they can get their seniors back in time for the next game, as the bug has bitten everyone through the state in some form or another recently.

“We have a week off until we play again, so I am hoping it’s going to go through the team,” said Sibley.

Posted by Tim Davis on January 17, 2013. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry