An abrupt end for Lake Mills
Published 1:24 am Thursday, February 18, 2010
The postseason started on a bad note for the Lake Mills boys’ basketball team before it even stepped on the court for Wednesday’s first round matchup with Estherville-Lincoln-Central in Lake Mills.
Junior post Marcus Gaskill, the Bulldogs second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, broke a bone in his foot Tuesday in practice and did not play Wednesday. Without Gaskill’s 14.9 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game Lake Mills lacked an inside presence and became much more of a jump shooting team as the Midgets took advantage for a 67-59 victory over the Bulldogs.
E-L-C (6-15) controlled the interior and dominated on the glass with Gaskill in a cast, sitting on the Lake Mills bench.
“They did what you should do when a team is missing one of their best players,” said Lake Mills head coach Kyle Menke.
The Midgets took advantage of Gaskill’s absence with Tyler Lutz slashing through the lane and Spencer Johnson scoring second chance points.
The Bulldogs (16-5) took a 20-19 lead at halftime, but E-L-C opened a wild third quarter with an 8-1 run to build a six-point lead.
Lake Mills came back with a run of its own to take a four-point lead, but the Midgets ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup from Alex Arends to tie the game at 43.
“I thought the end of the third quarter was key,” Menke said.
The buzzer-beating shot gave E-L-C momentum heading into the fourth quarter and started an 8-3 run to take a 51-46 lead that the Bulldogs couldn’t answer.
Despite 11 fourth-quarter points from Bulldogs senior Chris Throne, who finished with a game-high 28 points, Lake Mills wasn’t able to stop the Midgets from scoring inside and off the offensive glass.
Throne hit three 3-pointers in the quarter, including two from long distance and defenders draped over him in the final minute to get as close as seven.
Lake Mills defeated E-L-C 60-54 Dec. 12 where Gaskill scored 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs missed his offense as well.
“We just didn’t have much of an inside game,” Menke said.
It was a sloppy game throughout with both teams consistently turning the ball over, but it happened that the Midgets seemed to make fewer mistakes than Lake Mills.
The Bulldogs clearly wanted to push the pace but turnovers foiled them throughout and E-L-C settled into a halfcourt game that exposed Lake Mills in the post.
Estherville-Lincoln-Central 67, Lake Mills 59
ELC 9 10 24 24 — 67
Lake Mills 6 14 23 16 — 59
ELC scoring: Tyler Lutz 17, Spencer Johnson 16, Jeremy Hunt 12, Alex Arends 12, Jacob Perkins 6, Aaron Lindell 2, Marcus Christensen 2.
Lake Mills scoring: Chris Throne 28, Tyler Rice 14, Alex Grunhovd 6, Jordan Colby 6, Tim Brandt 5.