By PAUL GOTHAM
AVON, N.Y. — Less than seven minutes had elapsed in Thursday’s New York State Class C regional qualifier at Avon High School, and JC Walker had already picked up a pair of player-control fouls. The Lyons senior went to the bench with his team tangled in a one-possession game.
Dean Schott II didn’t flinch. The fifth-year head coach of the Lyons boys’ basketball team sent Walker out to start the second quarter, and the 6-foot-5 forward played the remaining 24 minutes.
Walker finished with a double-double and scored 18 of his game-high 34 points in the second half to lead Lyons in a 59-56 victory over Pembroke.
“At halftime I told him ‘We rode you here; take us to the regionals,'” Schott said. “That’s what he did.”
Trailing by five at halftime, Walker scored back-to-back buckets to cap an 8-2 run to start the third quarter. His first came on a baseline jumper. The next trip down the floor, he used a ball screen to get in the lane for a 35-34 lead.
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“In the second half, we ran pick-and-rolls with him the whole half,” Schott explained. I said ‘get the big on you, clear it out and go.'”
Walker got in the lane for an and-one and followed with two more in the paint for a 43-40 lead with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter.
“I knew if we get a switch, I was going to attack the basket and get what I wanted,” Walker said.
And after getting in the lane for the first 12 minutes of the second half, Walker caught the Pembroke defense collapsing and hit a step-back 3-pointer for a 53-52 lead with 3:19 to go in the game.
His two free throws with 1:19 left in the contest proved to be the go-ahead points.
“Best player in Section V,” Schott said. “Nobody else I want.”
Pull-up jumper JC Walker. @LyonsSchools 13-9 mid first quarter pic.twitter.com/Crm6iNMw3R
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 9, 2023
The Lyons defense did its part as well.
After allowing six 3-pointers in the first half including five in the second quarter, the Lions did not allow anything from long range for the first 11 minutes of the second half and limited Pembroke to one basket from distance over the final 16 minutes.
“If they’re going to beat us, they can get to the hole and try to beat us,” Schott said. “That was the plan at halftime. No more threes. Our man-to-man defense was great. Kids rebounded. Everything I asked them to do, they did. They’ve been doing it all year.”
Pembroke entered play Thursday night scoring nearly 77 points per game, but the Dragons connected just nine times from the floor and scored 24 points over the final 16 minutes of play. Beside an Avery Ferreira jumper as the clock expired, Nate Duttweiller’s rebound and putback was the Dragons’ lone field goal over the final 3:51 of the game.
Lyons held Pembroke to a season-low offensive output.
“One of the things that we knew was going to be an issue was fatigue,” Pembroke head coach Matt Shay said. “That bothered us a little bit. When a team extends like that, you’re in a stance more with the ball. You’re having to get low to protect it. That just plays into fatigue. I think we saw that with our shooting as well in the second half especially at the end where the fatigue started to get to us a little bit.”
Coming off a first sectional title in program history, Pembroke (22-2) had not lost since December 6th.
“They battled tonight,” Shay said of his squad. “They played their hearts out. They played through some adversity. To be a couple possessions away from getting that win, it’s heartbreaking because you don’t want it to end like that, but I could not be more proud of how they battled and competed as a team.”
Cayden Pfalzer hit four 3-pointers including Pembroke’s lone second-half triple. Tyson Totten had 18 points. Jon Suro accounted for 15 points.
Jon Suro gives @PemDragonsBBall a 52-50 lead with 3:51 to go pic.twitter.com/2xzzYKkaL4
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 10, 2023
The win clinched a Section V-best 11th trip to regionals for the Lyons – the first under Schott who played on the Lions’ 1989 squad that won New York State and Federation titles under his dad, Dean Schott I. Lyons made nine regional appearances under the elder Schott.
“We’re back where we belong. Back where my dad took us. He’s here to watch it. Best group of kids in the world. They never give up, play hard all the time. I’m having so much fun.”
Walker grabbed 12 rebounds for his 24th double-double of the season.
Mikey Briggs finished with seven points including a 4-for-4 effort at the free throw line in the final minute of the game.
“Mikey is tough as heck,” Schott said of the junior guard. “Other than JC, there’s nobody else I’d want there. He’s the littlest kid since he’s been in third grade. He doesn’t see it that way. I knew he was knocking down those free throws…He’s a gamer. He’s a hooper.”
Jacob Sides scored 10 points for the Lions. Jamire Johnson had 6. Jaiden Lopez (1) and Devyn Williams (1) rounded out the scoring for Lyons.
The Lions appeared in the 2016 regionals under-then head coach and current athletic director, Zac Young.
Lyons (24-1) has won 15 straight games.
“They care about each other so much,” Schott said. “It’s a family. We love each other. We also play a lot better defense than we used to. We really harped on that in the preseason and all year we have. It’s amazing how much they love each other.
Lyons will face Section VI champion, Randolph in Saturday’s regional. An 11 a.m tip-off is scheduled at Gates Chili High School.
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