Full Court Press Leads Lawrence to 63-47 Victory

The Lawrence boys varsity basketball team improved their record to 5-2 after a 63-47 win over Mineola on Tuesday. Full court pressure and balanced scoring led the Golden Tornadoes to their second straight victory.

Three Golden Tornadoes players hit double digit score totals for the game.  Samson Bialastok led the way with 13 points, Ibraheem Shamseldin had 12 and Eddie Robinson, who is among the leaders in points per game in Nassau County, scored 10.

Coach Pete Linderman was satisfied with his team's full court press.  "Our defense sets up our offense," he said.

Linderman was also excited about their balanced scoring among the team members. "Different night, different players, we can have a different scoring leader every night," he said.

After a scoreless first minute, Robinson hit a jump shot and Lawrence's press began its full attack. Using this to their advantage, the Golden Tornadoes  achieved a 9-2 lead and ended the quarter up by 12 points. 

A quick three pointer by Mineola in the beginning of the quarter didn't overwhelm the Golden Tornadoes. Dwayne Daniel came right back hitting a three point shot, then stealing the inbound pass and hitting a layup to put Lawrence back up by double digits. Lawrence went into halftime up by 10.

Lawrence came out on fire to start the second half and began the third quarter with an 8-0 run.  When Mineola did break Lawrence's court control, the Golden Tornadoes still made it extremely difficult for the Mustangs to score.  Bialastok's block silenced the home Mustang crowd and the Golden Tornadoes went into the fourth quarter leading by double digits.

Lawrence's pressure continued in the fourth quarter, helping to increase their lead by 22 points at one point.  Although Mineola ended the game on an 8-2 run, the Golden Tornadoes came out with a road victory.

The Golden Tornadoes will resume their conference schedule and travel to Sewanhaka on Friday Jan. 7 at 4:30 p.m..