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player ready...It took a while for Roosevelt to get its offense on track Tuesday night against Lake Station.
But when it did, senior forward Latrell Williams was the main catalyst.
“We had to adjust to the pressure that (Lake Station) was applying,” Williams said. “(In the second half) we were moving the ball well and attacking their defense.”
Roosevelt pulled away from Lake Station in the second half for a 67-50 victory in the first round of the Class 2A Whiting Sectional.
Williams finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Roosevelt (13-9), while Lake Station (15-9) was led by 16 points from Donta Long.
Roosevelt coach James Scott said the game would have went smoother if his team had followed the game plan from the opening tip.
“In the first half, we didn’t get the ball inside,” Scott said. “Our game plan was to establish the ball inside, then come out and start shooting. We did the opposite, which slowed us down.”
Roosevelt led 27-23 at halftime before its offense started generating points from inside the paint in the third quarter.
That inside attack opened the perimeter, and senior guard Marquise Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 run that made it 49-37 early in the fourth. The Panthers kept the game out of reach from there.
“And that’s what I was preaching in the first half,” Scott said. “Once we started dumping the ball inside, we got some shots we could hit.”
In the other first-round game, Bishop Noll advanced after grinding out a 68-61 win over River Forest, which had lost by 19 points to Noll earlier this season.
“There wasn’t really a lot of pace to the game,” Noll coach Josh Belluomini said. “It got physical on both ends and it was a possession-by-possession game.”
Brandon Scott led Noll (11-12) with 24 points, including 15 in the second quarter as the Warriors took a 36-34 halftime lead. River Forest (10-13) kept pace thanks to a game-high 26 points from Jordan Higgins.
Noll held on to its slim halftime lead for the majority of the second half, unable to break the game open until a pivotal 3-point play by Morgan Grant with 1:58 remaining.
“Jaelon (Brooks) made a good pass to me,” Grant said. “It got tipped, I think, but I was still able to control it and went up with it.”
Grant got fouled in the process and hit the ensuing free throw to put Bishop Noll ahead 60-53.
That was a common theme in the fourth quarter as the Warriors enjoyed success at the free-throw line. Bishop Noll shot 11-for-13 in the fourth and finished at 81 percent (17-for-21).
“I wish we could’ve done that all year,” Belloumini said. “Sometimes, that little extra focus is there in the fourth quarter.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.