Still early in the season and up against one of its toughest rivals, No. 6 City boys basketball understandably had stretches of spotty play Tuesday.
But when the time came to close out visiting Lake Clifton, the Knights found the necessary quality form.
Taking a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, the home team dominated the rest of the way with timely baskets, key defensive stops and lively rebounding for a 70-59 win in Baltimore City play.
Senior guard Omarr Smith Jr. led the way, scoring a game-high 25 points that included nine points in the decisive fourth quarter. City improves to 4-0 on the season, while Lake Clifton falls to 2-2.
After letting the Lakers close the third quarter on a 14-3 run to cut their lead to 44-43, the Knights took a calculated possession-by-possession approach to start the fourth quarter to pull away. Smith opened with a 3-pointer in the right corner to start a 15-3 run.
“We’re still trying to get the chemistry together, focusing on the small details knowing that we can still tough it out and get through things. Getting a tough win like this is going to benefit us later on in the season,” he said.
The game stayed tight throughout the first half with City closing the second quarter with the last eight points — senior Paul Frazier (13 points for the game) providing half of them to give the home team a 29-24 advantage at the break. The Knights looked poised to pull away with more from Smith and Frazier to start the third quarter — the pair scoring eight points to help push the lead to 41-29 with 3:33 left.
But the Lakers, who got 19 points from guard Elijah Nelson and 16 from forward Shynold Lewis, stayed persistent and enjoyed their own run. When Nelson finished off a layup with 12 seconds left in the quarter — he had seven points in the final 2:33 — the Knights led, 44-43.
Smith and Frazier, the Knights’ leaders, took over from there. After Smith’s opening 3, Frazier converted a three-point play to push the lead to 52-45 with 5:40 left and the Knights kept rolling.
“Going into the fourth quarter, Paul and I talked about being aware of our possessions knowing we were going to be the main two to finish the game. So it was about being aware of the time and score, making all the right plays and that was big for us in the win,” Smith said.
While big baskets were made, Frazier looked at the other end when asked what the biggest difference was.
“Defense. We knew we had to pick it up on defense,” he said.
Working with a largely new cast, the Lakers brought back two starters, Lake coach Herman “Tree” Harried liked his team’s fight. And while the lakers had some costly turnovers and lapses on the boards, he’s confident adjustments can easily be made.
“There’s room for growth and when you play a game like this against a team like that, you can’t make a lot of mistakes. It’s all fixable stuff,” he said. “Today was a tough game. City played hard, they competed, did what they do and did a little more than we did to win the game. But I liked how we fought.”
Both teams return to action on Thursday with more tough league games starting at 5:15 p.m. City hosts league and Class 1A state champion Edmondson in a rematch of last season’s city title game. Lake looks to rebound at Mervo.
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Lake — 11-13-19-16 — 59
City — 11-18-15-26 — 70
LC — Nelson 19, Turner 6, Hodge 7, Lewis 16, Hawkins 3, Newman 2, Nicholson 2, Gary 4.
C — Hammond 6, Smith 25, Stewart 9, Campbell 6, Frazier 13, Hargrove 7, Horton 1, Chinnia 3.