Lawrence's playoff hopes alive

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A little more than three weeks after yielding more than 90 points at Wantagh in a blowout loss, Lawrence held the Warriors under 50 in their Nassau Conference A-IV boys’ basketball rematch on Jan. 30.

However, while the Golden Tornadoes executed their defensive game plan, the offense was a no-show. They shot 15 of 57 from the field according to head coach Lou Robinson and suffered a 49-37 loss. Wantagh (9-1 in A-IV) was led by senior center Brandon Goldberg, who scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.

“We settled for too many threes in the first half and missed 13 of 15,” Robinson said after Lawrence slipped to 4-6 in conference play with four games remaining. “I don’t know where that came from because we’ve been sharing the ball well,” he added “We’re still so young and there are times during games we get overwhelmed. Sometimes I have to remind myself we’ve got a 15-year old and two 14-year olds on the court.”

Sophomore Don Smalls III was Lawrence’s only double-digit scorer, netting 16 points, a basket above his season average. Freshman Terrell Adderley, who has settled into the role of sixth man, added nine off the bench.

“I don’t know if it was because we shot really well against Lynbrook, but we got away from doing what we do best,” said Robinson, noting the team’s 57-48 victory at Lynbrook just 48 hours earlier. “We have to be creative on offense to have success. Our defense was good enough tonight.”

Lawrence held Wantagh’s top backcourt threat Nick Teresky to only two points. On Jan. 6, Tereksy exploded for a game-high 29 when the Warriors cruised to a 91-47 home win. Goldberg was held to 12 in that one.

“We were off for 17 days before the first Wantagh game and that break crushed us,” Robinson explained.

The Golden Tornadoes will likely need three wins over their last four games to qualify for the Class A playoffs. They completed a season sweep of Lynbrook last week behind junior Mikell Henry’s 23 points and 13 rebounds. Smalls added 16 points and senior point guard Nate Manning had eight.

“Lynbrook played a box-and-one against Smalls, but we were getting to the basket a lot,” Robinson said. “Mikell is one of the best slashers in the conference and nobody has been able to stop him.”

In the first half of the season, Lawrence split games against its four remaining opponents. All four were up in the air in the fourth quarter, including a 49-46 loss to Plainedge and a 72-70 win over Valley Stream North. The Golden Tornadoes beat Floral Park by 12 and lost to North Shore by 14. “We knew going into the second half what it was going to take,” Robinson said. “We can get all four or we can lose all four. They’re all a toss-up.

“It would mean a lot for these young guys to experience what it’s like to be in the playoffs,” he added.