Lake guard Preston Snyder goes in for a layup late in the fourth quarter during the Flyers’ 87-74 loss to Fostoria. (Zach Stumpf|/Scanner Media)
By Yaneek Smith
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
FOSTORIA — They say in football that you can’t teach speed. In basketball, you can’t teach height and athleticism, either.
Lake found that out the hard way as a big second quarter propelled Fostoria to an 87-74 Northern Buckeye Conference victory, giving its coach, Thom Loomis, his 100th career victory on Friday.
Following a basket by Lake forward Dylan Wiley that tied it up, 24-24, early in the second quarter, the Redmen (11-3 overall, 6-2 NBC) scored nine consecutive points to go up, 33-24, and the teams each scored 12 points for the rest of the half, leaving Fostoria with a 45-36 lead.
Jayceon Tucker scored inside to put the Redmen, who have three players who are at least 6-4, ahead for good at 26-24. During Fostoria’s 9-0 run, Tucker scored four points, Machi Johnson hit a three-pointer and Jordan Ferguson scored on a putback.
In the second half, the Redmen built a 15-point lead when Kristian Carter-Stokes scored on a drive to make it 53-38 midway through the third quarter, and Lake (9-5, 4-4).
The closest Lake would get in the second quarter was three points at 36-33 with just over two minutes remaining on a drive by Carter Behlmer.
Because of Eastwood’s loss to Otsego, Fostoria finds itself tied atop the Northern Buckeye Conference with the Eagles.
It was the second time this season that the Redmen have beaten the Flyers, the other meet a 66-61 win over Fostoria.
Lake coach Luke Hickey said guarding a team with height, talent and athleticism brought challenges for his team.
“Against Fostoria, there’s little margin of error. You can’t afford to not execute,” Hickey said. “We wanted to keep them off the offensive boards, and we didn’t do that (because) of their athleticism. We’d force a miss and they’d get a second opportunity.
“Our goal was never to completely stop them, we just wanted to force them into a tough shot and one rebound. We just weren’t effective keeping them off the boards as we needed to be.
The Flyers, who defeated Ottawa Hills earlier this week, will face Eastwood on Tuesday at home.
“We have to get better and be ready to go (against Eastwood). I told the guys that our goals are still in front of us,” Hickey said. “On a Friday night, in a hostile environment against Fostoria, we gave them too many opportunities. Give them credit, they capitalized.”
In the first half, there were four ties and three lead changes. In the first quarter, no team led by more than four points as the Redmen led, 20-19, after the first eight minutes.
Ferguson had 28 points to lead all scorers with 20 coming in the second half, Carter-Stokes scored 24, 12 coming in the second half, and Johnson finished with 13 points.
For Lake, Behlmer made five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 17 points, Preston Snyder finished with 13 points and Caleb Tobias chipped in with 12.
Out of Loomis’ 100 wins, 64 of which have come coaching the Redmen.
“It’s one of those things where, in a long career, you never know if it’s going to happen,” Loomis said. “In my coaching career, I was at Bettsville, that was the smallest school in the state not on an island, in a tough league, (but) I wouldn’t change anything about my time there for six years.
”It was a wonderful start, but there were not a ton of wins there. I was a principal for a long time, didn’t coach much, did some volunteer jobs, retired in 2016 and was the JV coach here for the first year,” Loomis said.
“Coach (J.T.) Bates left for Van Buren, and I’ve been here for seven years, and we’ve had a lot of success for the last five years.
“These are great kids, we’ve worked hard to change the culture, and I think we’ve made great strides, and we’re going to continue to do that. It’s not really about me, it’s about the kids.”
