Lee’s LeProvost and Williams wears down Turner Falls in tourney

It was Lee’s dynamic duo of Heamon Williams (22 points) and Jake LeProvost (24 points) that has the Wildcats advancing to the second round of the Western Mass. Division 3 tourney on Monday.

The duo scored 29 of the Cats’ 31 first half points, while Williams added 13 second half points, leading to the sounding 55-41 victory over Turner Falls.

“[Williams] was a monster on the boards,” said Lee Head Coach Dan Korte.

Turner Falls (14-7), seeded no. 10, may have been smaller sized compared to the no. 7 seed Wildcats (13-8), yet they made up for the size difference with an aggressive full-court press, utilizing their speed and quickness, to force 15 first-half turnovers, earning a 31-31 tie at the half.

The Indians’ Melvin Moreno (11 points) and Wyatt Borbeau (nine points) kept their team alive by knocking down three-pointers and pressuring every Lee possession in the backcourt.

After Lee trailed 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, Korte switched to a spread 2-3 zone defense which immediately eliminated the outside shot and forced the Indians to work inside.

“We were lucky that they didn’t have a dominant inside force,” Korte said. “We were able to spread out our zone more than we would typically and they didn’t shoot the ball in the second half as well – fortunately.”

In the first half, the Wildcats withstood the pressure thanks to LeProvost’s outside shooting as he scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the first two frames.

At the start of the second half, a “concerted” effort underneath by Williams as well as some production from forward Nick Sitzer allowed the Wildcats to slow down the pace of the game and spread the floor on offense.

The result: Williams scored seven points in the third quarter, including a rare outside jumper, and Sitzer added four points in the third to help the ‘Cats build a 45-36 lead heading into the final quarter.

“Going into halftime, I was personally disappointed in myself because I knew we had a bigger [size] advantage; I just came out with a concerted effort to control the boards, and it worked out,” Williams said. “The third quarter I was feeling it, and the shots were falling for me.”

In the fourth, the game slowed down, as the Indians began to wear down from their own defensive pressure while Lee continued to attack the boards with both Sitzer and Williams.

Sitzer opened the fourth with a rebound and put back while Williams had a fast break lay-up and a jumper from the wing to give Lee a comfortable 51-36 lead with four minutes left.

“[Turner Falls] was a very scrappy team, they worked extremely hard in the first half – they out-hustled us on the boards – they didn’t come to lose,” Korte said. “In the second half, we stepped up our intensity level and we were bigger and stronger and really took advantage of the boards.”

Sitzer finished with six points and earned his coach’s praise following the win.

“The real difference was we started to get some hoops from some other people,” Korte said. “I think with [LeProvost and Williams] it’s very hard, but if we can find some other guys for some lay-ups we [as a team] are very difficult to guard.”

Lee will now travel on Thursday for its second round tournament game against no. 2 seed Granby (17-3).

Lee will try to contain Granby’s Corey Baker, who like LeProvost, is a 1,000 point scorer – as a junior.

“We will be practicing to try to contain [Baker],” Williams said.

Posted by Tim Davis on February 28, 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