By PAUL LIOTTI
ROCHESTER – Being the No. 1 seed has its advantages.
But one of the disadvantages in a 10-team bracket is having earned a first-round bye which means the top seed needs to wait a while to play its first sectional game.
Top-seeded Leadership Academy (18-3) found that out very quickly against upset-minded No. 9 seed East on Saturday night. But the Lions shook off the rust starting in the second quarter and dispatched of their rival Eagles 77-59 in front of a packed arena at School 33. The win completed a season hat-trick sweep of the Eagles, who lost two other times to the Lions during the regular season.
“We had a week off and I knew we would come out a bit sluggish, but after we came out in the second quarter, you saw Leadership basketball,” Leadership Coach Reggie Simmons said. “We have been doing it all year, practicing it every day. We are going to continue to play our style of basketball: Get up and down the court, find our guys on the wing and if you’re open take the shot.”
Leadership will take on NE Douglass on Wednesday night in a Class A2 semi-final at Victor High School, with the winner punching its ticket to the Big House on Saturday, March 3. NE Douglas took out Wilson 75-68.
East (7-14) closed the first quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 15-11 lead heading into the second quarter. The Lions heated things up early in the second taking a 20-18 lead on a short jump shot by junior Rondell Watson. The lead was short-lived as consecutive three pointers by the Eagles’ junior Chaz Washington pushed East back on top 24-20. A three-pointer by Leadership senior Dezmere Ellis, a steal and breakaway dunk by Marcus Barr, and a frenetic Lion defense ignited a 13-0 Lion to push the lead to 33-24 with 2:14 left. In a matter of less than three minutes, the Eagles found their season in jeopardy.
But instead of folding, the Eagles regained their composure and thanks to Washington and junior Jordan Randolph, they tightened matters up and Leadership headed to the lockerroom with a 33-29 lead.
With the excited crowd ready for a second half battle, the Lions roared – thanks to the sharpshooting of Watson. Watson hit four three pointers in the span of four minutes and Ellis one of his own a few seconds later and suddenly the Eagles were facing a 51-39 deficit. Watson, who finished the quarter with 12 points and a game-high 30, was unconscious, hitting deep threes despite being covered like a blanket by multiple East players.
“I was off in the first half and my teammates told me to stay in the game, and continue to play defense, because defense leads to offense,” Watson said. “When I hit that that first one (at the start of the third quarter) I felt a shiver in my bones and my teammates said to keep shooting.”
A series of unfortunate events in the final 10 seconds of the third quarter sealed East’s fate: Ellis picked off two Eagle passes and converted them into break away layups in that span, the last coming at the buzzer and sending Leadership to a 59-45 lead heading into the final stanza.
Watson, who hit a total of eight three pointers in the game, added two more to start the fourth quarter and pushed the lead to 65-49. The tide had shifted: the No. 1 seed was not going home this night.
“Rondell has done that all year. He had a 52-point game against Wilson this season. But he struggled in the first half and we sat him down at halftime and said if the shot is there take it and play your game,” Simmons said.
For the game, the Lions hit 14 long-range bombs on just 21 attempts.
Another telling statistic in this game was Leadership’s ability to take care of the ball. If a team takes care of the ball, its probability for success increases.
“I preach every day in practice to take care of the ball and the kids know that I…hate…turnovers,” Simmons said. “The first three games of the year we were turning it over 16-17 times, but once we hit our mark about the fifth game we settled down. This was our best game of the year taking care of the ball.”
And the Lions did just that, finishing the game with a paltry five turnovers – three in the first half – and suffered their first turnover of the second half until there was 1:53 left in the game and Leadership up 73-56. East, meanwhile was challenged at every turn by the aggressive, swift Lion defenders, which forced 16 turnovers.
“We work in practice a lot with ball handling, being smart with the ball and not getting turnovers,” Watson said. “And we know good defense drives our offense.”
It would appear that Leadership has dialed in the combination to make a deep run in sectionals – take care of the ball, hit their shots in transition, and play a tenacious defense.
Rounding out the scoring for East was Washington with 15 points and 9 rebounds, Randolph and Maurice Coney with 10 points each, Kni Jear Sapp with 9 Tabionne Fennell with 5, K.McCullough with 7, and Nick Wick with 3. Besides Watson’s 30 points, Ellis notched 25 points, Barr with 12, and Davon Brown 10 to go along with four assists.
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