By JOHN LIKANJE
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Lyons overwhelmed Pembroke with its size on defense, catapulting its offense en route to a 71-53 victory to win back-to-back sectional blocks. It’s the Lions’ fifth championship in the last eight years and 22nd in program history.
“It feels amazing,” Lyons head coach Dean Schott II said after the game. “No matter how many more times you do it, each time is more amazing than the last. I played for them. I watched them before I won them with my dad coaching. It’s an amazing basketball town that deserves all the success it gets.”
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Schott’s squad wasn’t deterred by the Dragons’ halftime buzzer-beating three-pointer as they won the second half, 37-30. Senior guard Devyn Williams nailed a pair of three-pointers to ignite a 12-4 run midway through the third quarter for a double-digit lead that the Lions held for the remainder of the contest. Dezmen Bell, Zavien Horn and Jamire Johnson all made a layup for a commanding 46-29 advantage. The Lions held the Dragons to three made field goals the last six minutes of the period, forcing six misses and five turnovers in 13 possessions.
“I told them at halftime, ‘So they made a half-court shot,'” Schott said when addressing his squad during intermission. “‘Guys, you did everything you were supposed to.’ We have two point guards. When we went on that run, it was exactly what I had expected them to do.”
Johnson, who scored 16 points through three quarters, stepped up with 10 in the final stanza to maintain the Lions’ edge and secure the title. The sophomore forward netted the Lions’ first seven points via three layups, including a pair of putbacks, and a free throw. Johnson converted 4-of-6 shots from the charity stripe as well. The sophomore forward finished with 52 points in three sectional games, including matching his scoring output from the quarterfinals and semifinals combined. Johnson netted 14 first-half points as well to spark the Lions to a 34-23 lead at intermission.
“There’s not a big man in Section V that I’d take over him,” Schott said about his sophomore forward. “He’s a great kid. In the fourth quarter, we were feeding him. And-one every time, it seemed like for five-six minutes.”
Williams followed up with 13 points, including nine in the second half. Three of the senior guard’s four made field goals came from long distance, including one near the end of the first quarter to open up a 19-10 lead for the Lions.
Bell chipped in 10 points and converted two inside finishes to extend the Lions’ advantage to 48-31 going into the final period.
“All times, we have five great players on the court,” Schott explained. “When we bring in the bench, no matter what. There’s five great players. So if they want to run people at JJ (Jamire), good. We want people to do that because we have four other guys that are great and can score at anytime they want to.”
Mike Briggs (9), Stephen LeBrecht (7) and Horn (6) rounded out the scoring for the Lions, who forced 29 missed field goals and 13 turnovers in 55 possessions.
“They play great defense,” Schott said when praising his squad. “Just a great group of kids. I’m real proud of them.”
“It’s been our calling card all year,” the head coach explained about his team’s defense. “We had trouble shooting the ball early in the year. So if you did double and triple JJ, we had trouble scoring sometimes. Defense is what we did that was our main thing.”
For Pembroke, Jayden Bridge and Tyson Totten both scored 14 points. Bridge heaved a three-pointer from near halfcourt to keep the Dragons within striking distance, 34-23. The junior center netted eight first-half points and converted three shots inside the arc. Totten supplied all of his scoring after the opening stanza, including providing six of the Dragons’ first eight tallies in the second. Senior guard Avery Ferreira netted 10 points in three quarters before fouling out in the fourth period.
“We wanted to frustrate Totten,” Schott said. “Totten’s a great player. We had the Totten rules this week with double teams. We also had JJ behind the double teams all week. If Totten got the ball out of the double team and they (Pembroke) thought they could get to the basket, we had JJ to get it out of there. I was very proud of our defense.”
Sam Pfeiffer (9) and Sean Pustulka (6) rounded out the scoring for the Dragons, who finished with an 18-5 record.
Lyons advances to the NYS Class C Far West Regional qualifier and will play the winner of the sub-regional between C2 champion, Byron-Bergen, and C3 champion, Notre Dame Batavia.
“We just need to keep playing the way we’re playing,” Schott said ahead of Wednesday’s game. “We’re not worried about anyone else. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
***Article has been updated to reflect the accurate number of championships for the Lyons program and standing in Section V history.
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