By TIM IRVING
Leadership and UPrep Saturday featured a battle of opposing styles of play.
The Lions finished with a 74-65 victory, but it was anything but a comfortable nine-point win.
The Griffins came out dominating inside with the combination of Andrew Edwards, Jaden Simms and Cam Dyer going to the basket. While Maurice McKinney started slowly for Leadership, Sean Smith knocked down a couple of three pointers to cut the lead to 15-13 after one quarter.
McKinney got it going in the second quarter, knocking down three triples while Leadership got contributions from most of the roster in those eight minutes and the Lions won the second quarter 23-5 and led 36-20 at the break.
The first half of the third quarter turned into a track meet with Dyer and Sincere Burroughs starting knock down shots but when Khalid Ortiz-Price scored five straight points, the Lions’ lead got to 48-31.
That awakened The Beast.
“Cam is a monster,” said Lions coach William Broome of Dyer who got UPrep rolling with a couple of big baskets. Dyer blocked a shot, one of his seven swats in the game, to prevent Leadership from scoring at the third quarter buzzer and the lead was down to seven heading to the fourth.
Early in the final quarter, Dyer threw down a dunk that cut the lead to 57-51.
“He plays within himself and I love how he attacks the basket,” said Broome.
Leadership needed to get their beast to awaken and McKinney responded.
Coming out of a timeout, McKinney drove baseline, scored on a reverse and drew a foul and the momentum swung back the other way.
“We knew Dyer was in foul trouble and I was supposed to go at him and draw a foul,” said the senior, who scored nine of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter and got the lead back out to double-digits.
Broome has known McKinney since seventh grade and trusts him to make the big play. “He is my eyes, ears, mouth on the court.”
Dyer scored 22 points to lead UPrep while Edwards and Simms combined for 25 inside for the Griffins.
Smith scored 20 points on five three-pointers and Ortiz-Price had 13 as the Lions’ guard play was the difference.
“I feel like I’ve got the two best guards in Section V,” says Broome of Smith and McKinney. “We’re starting to find our groove.”
The Lions finish the regular season with four games this week, beginning and ending with Wilson with McQuaid and Edison Tech sandwiched in between.
SCORING:
UPrep
Mylan Maxwell (3), James Matthews (2), Sincere Burroughs (11), Devin Green (2), Cam Dyer (22), Andrew Edwards (12), Jaden Simms (13).
Leadership
Sean Smith (20), Khalid Ortiz-Price (13), Maurice McKinney (22), Jared St. Louis (6), Rayshawn Boyd (6), Kamari Smith (4), Nymeer Young (3).
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