PEMBERVILLE — Eastwood juniors Dayquan Oliver and Drew Kachmarik combined for 42 points off the bench to lead the Eagles to a 69-66 Northern Buckeye Conference win over Lake Friday.
However, there are no real set in stone starters at Eastwood. It may depend on who has a good week of practice, but even more it depends on what kind of match-up the Eagles want.
“We talked about that the first day of practice that we don’t have a starting five, it was eight with (senior post) Ian Sibbersen until we found out he’s out for the year (shoulder injury),” Eastwood coach Jason Faykosh said.
“But we are seven-deep and we don’t have starters — one through seven we are all pretty even. They’ve all got things they can all bring to the court.
“Drew and Dayquan responded real well for not getting a starting spot. They really stepped up and had huge games for us,” added Faykosh.
The 5-11 Oliver slashes to the basket, scoring 20 points with four rebounds, but he can hit shots from the arc, his defense can cause opposing offenses to panic, and knows how to dish the ball to the team’s shooters when necessary.
Oliver, who has been the team’s high scorer before, was replaced as a starter by sophomore guard Drew Luidhardt, but Oliver did not mind the switch.
“Coach just wanted to change it up a little bit,” Oliver said. “Drew Luidhardt is an amazing player — I mean, he can play. It worked out.”
The 6-foot-2 Kachmarik hit 5-of-8 shots from downtown, including one from 22 feet with a hand in his face, while scoring a team-high 22 points, but he can also rebound and play the post or perimeter.
“He’s lights out,” Oliver said. “We have many players, so if they double him, we kick the ball out, and anyone can score on any given time.”
Then there is 6-1 senior Andrew Badenhop, who had a double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds, but he, too, can play anywhere on the court. Badenhop even helped Eastwood outrebound a much taller Lake team, 34-31.
“He’s very fundamental,” Oliver said. “He’ll get to the basket when he wants to. He hits the boards and he’s like our No. 1 hustle player.”
For the Flyers, senior forward Dylan Wiley hit four triples in scoring 22 points with five rebounds and two steals, sophomore guard Preston Snyder had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven steals, and sophomore guard Carter Behlmer scored 10 points.
In a showdown of previously unbeaten teams in the league, the Eagles and Flyers played through nine lead changes, but it was Eastwood who owned the final two minutes of the game.
Eastwood junior Andre Lewis scored driving to the basket to give the Eagles a 60-59 lead with 2:14 remaining, and Eastwood never trailed again.
However, Behlmer hit a triple with 17 seconds remaining to keep the Flyers to within one possession, 69-66, so after a timeout Lake resorted to what was deemed necessary — fouling.
Who did they foul, but Kachmarik, and while he was hot all night from the arc and the line, both his free throws bounced off the rim, giving the Flyers hope.
Lake junior guard Jay Blazevich pulled down the rebound after Kachmarik’s second miss, but after an outlet pass, the ball was stolen upcourt by Eastwood senior Caleb Souder with two seconds remaining, and that was all she wrote.
Eastwood, 3-1 overall, moves to 3-0 in the NBC, while Lake falls to 3-2 and 2-1. However, to get the win the Eagles had to recover from a rough start.
In just over two minutes, Lake opened a quick 9-2 lead, but the Eagles fought their way back with Kachmarik scoring the final six points of the quarter, including a triple with 25 seconds left to give Eastwood a 20-18 lead.
Kachmarik had 10 first quarter points, despite playing less than four minutes. Kachmarik hit another triple with 30 seconds remaining in the half to give Eastwood a 38-35 lead going into the break. Kachmarik had 19 points at halftime.
At intermission, Faykosh made adjustments on both sides of the ball, but neither team was able to pull away in the second half because Lake showed they also can score from anywhere on the court.
“Our defense really improved the second half,” Faykosh said. “They’ve got some guys who can really shoot the ball. Their sophomore guard (Snyder) is going to be an unbelievable player. He’s already great at attacking, getting into the paint, and creating.
“Really, we hit shots in the second half. I thought we executed a little bit better offensively and we defended their shooters a little bit better in the second half. They’ve got some shooting in that program.”
Oliver said Eastwood’s No. 1 goal was to shut down Lake’s transition game.
“This was an amazing game,” Oliver said. “We had our game plan — just get back in transition because they are a really good transition team and good at the three-point shot, so we had to focus on that and hit the boards.”
Lewis finished the game with six points and eight rebounds, Luidhardt scored six points, and junior Kadyn Donnell contributed five points for the Eagles.
Eastwood, which had 11 triples as a team, was 25-for-57 (44%) from the field, 8-for-11 (73%) from the free throw line, and had 12 turnovers.
Lake, which had seven triples as a team, was 24-for-54 (44%) from the floor, 11-for-14 (79%) from the charity stripe and the Flyers committed 13 turnovers. The stat lines could hardly get any closer.
Lake senior forward Caleb Tobias had eight points and five rebounds, Blazevich had three points and five rebounds, junior forward Drew Tajblik scored three points, and sophomore forward Jack Sobczak added two points.
In a game that might have gone either way, Lake coach Luke Hickey believes his team needed just a few more shots to fall.
“In the end it came down quite honestly to us making shots. I don’t think we shot it very well in the second half,” Hickey said.
“I thought our defense adjusted very well and we forced them to make some tough shots. We got the lead, but we just couldn’t hang on.
“I don’t think we were as effective as we needed to be on the defensive boards and we gave them a couple extra opportunities that came back to bite us at the end.”
