OAKWOOD — The Lions came out roaring and didn’t stop until they had sufficiently scared off their prey.
Senior shooting guard David Pruett hit five of his first six shots from the field, inluding three of his first four from beyond the arc, en route to a game-high 29 points to lead Lakeview (4-2) to a 73-65 victory over previously unbeaten North Hall (2-1) Friday night in the Jackson EMC 48th Annual Lanierland Basketball Tournament at Johnson High.
"It’s great to have someone that can score conssitently like that," Lakeview coach Seth Vining said.
"David’s struggled this year, so this is the first time he’s had that kind of outing for us this year, but he’s played that way for us for three years and it’s something we’ve come to expect. I thought tonight was probably one of his better games."
The No. 7-seeded Lions began the game on a 6-0 run thanks to two 3-pointers — one from each baseline — by Pruett.
Despite a Trojan timeout to thwart the offensive onslaught, the Lions continued playing with reckless abandon and came out of the timeout firing.
The Lions finished the first quarter with a seven-point lead thanks to scoring contributions from five different players. Nine of the 16 players onLakeview’s scored before the night was over.
The No. 3-seeded Trojans found their shooting stroke in the second quarter, but not before junior guard Brett Armour’s driving layup with 6:35 left in the half gave the Lions a 13-point lead. It would be their biggest of the night.
"I think the total game, offensively and defensively, it’s the best we’ve played (this season) by far," Vining said.
North Hall began cutting into the lead thanks to three 3-pointers by Brandon Nix, Josh Haymore and Ethan Satterfield; the latter cutting Lakeview’s lead to eight with 2:21 to go in the half.
"We knew they were going to take a lot of 3s and I was concerned about, with so many of them capable of making 3, that it would be hard to cover them," Vining said. "I just thought our guys did a great job."
The Trojans went into halftime down only three, due to a Haymore layup, coming off an assist by Drew Hill, and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Haymore.
Haymore, North Hall’s sharp-shooting senior guard, finished the game with a team-high 23 points.
"We really tried to concentrate on Josh Haymore because we really think he’s a super player," Vining said, "and tried to make it hard for him to get looks — and he still hit some tough shots."
Lakeview opened the second half on a 10-2 run getting scoring contributions from Kelly Nash, Tyler King, Pruett and Grayson Ingram.
The run was stopped by another 3-point basket by junior point guard Satterfield.
He finished the game as North Hall’s second-leading scorer with 13 points.
With Satterfield’s 3-pointer as the catalyst, the Trojans cut the lead to four with less than a minute to go in the third quarter on another Hill-Haymore hookup, this one a pass from Haymore to Hill for a wide-open layup.
Pruett, however, would have none of that and hit a 3-pointer from the left baseline at the buzzer ending the third quarter to give Lakeview a seven-point lead heading into the final period.
The start of the fourth began with another Satterfield 3-pointer, this one giving his team the spark it needed to cut the Lakeview lead to two points, on a layup by Brandon Nix, with 6:07 to go in the game.
Nix finished the game with 11 points.
It was the closest North Hall had been since the game began and the Trojans would only get closer, eventually tying the game.
Lakeview, however, didn’t let the late swing in momentum effect its goal of winning and, after regaining the lead on a rebound and put back by junior Nick Saye, didn’t let the Trojans come within two points again.
Saye finished the game as Lakeview’s second-leading scorer with 11 points.
Lakeview moves on to play No. 6 seed East Hall on Friday night at East Hall High while North Hall will face No. 3 seed Johnson in the consolation round Tuesday at East Hall High.