Lawrence seals conference basketball title

Visiting Lawrence built a 13-point lead after the first quarter and took Hewlett’s best punch in the second half before pulling away last Friday night for a 73-52 victory to clinch the Conference A-II title.

The Golden Tornadoes (8-0 in conference play, 12-2 overall) got a double-double from juniors Eddie Robinson (19 points, 19 rebounds) and Clifton Lyerly (14 points, 16 rebounds), and a game-high 22 points from sophomore Dwayne Daniel on the way to winning their seventh straight. Junior Weldon Irvine paced the Bulldogs (6-2, 9-4) with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“Winning the conference was one of the goals we set,” Lawrence coach Joe Supple said. “The kids have done a nice job taking one game at a time. I think after this win they may start looking ahead to the playoffs, but we have two more to go before it starts and we still need to fine-tune a few things.”

Lawrence’s offense made sweet music early and late. Robinson hit three shots from behind the arc as part of his 11-point first quarter, and two of Lyerly’s six points in the opening stanza came on a soaring two-handed dunk off a rebound of a Daniel miss. The Golden Tornadoes took a 23-10 lead into the second, but Hewlett got sparks from Irvine, sophomore Bryan Eckerle (eight points) and senior Dylan Sasson (seven) to shave the deficit to 10 by the end of the third.

Irvine opened the fourth with a jump-hook in the lane, and junior Kevin Dehaney answered a Robinson free throw to make it 48-41 with 6:46 remaining. After a Lawrence timeout, senior A.J. Gallo came off the bench and promptly hit a three-pointer that triggered a game-sealing 14-0 run that upped the margin to 21 with just over three minutes to play. “That’s his role,” Supple said of Gallo, who added a second trey. “He’s a knock-down shooter.” 

The win completed a season sweep for the Golden Tornadoes, who three weeks earlier beat the Bulldogs 72-50 behind Daniels’ 26 points.