Golden Tornadoes Too Much for Golden Eagles

Any thoughts of a carryover from a narrow defeat at the hands of first place South Side went away quickly as Lawrence took a big lead in the opening quarter and never looked back in a 65-35 win over visiting Bethpage.

, Eddie Robinson and Ahmad Shamseldin each scored 12 points for the Golden Tornadoes. The Golden Eagles got 11 points from Greg Gerber.

Lawrence head coach Pete Linderman was pleased with the way his team bounced back after earlier in the week. “The guys were hungry after the loss,” Linderman said. “I think what we learned was that if we’re not better than South Side at this point, we’re pretty much even with them. We feel like we can come out and play with anyone on any given night.”                                 

Lawrence (7-3 overall, 4-2 in Conference A-II) was all business right from the start. After Bethpage got a three from Joe Walsh to tie the score at 5-5, the Golden Tornadoes went on an 18-3 run to take a 23-8 lead. Bialastok scored eight points and pulled down four of his team-high seven rebounds in the quarter. 

Robinson, who dished out eight assists, and A.J. Gallo hit back-to-back threes to extend Lawrence’s lead to 29-10 early on in the second quarter. Gerber scored seven points in the quarter for Bethpage to keep the score respectable. Lawrence led 35-23 at the half. 

Playing Bethpage (1-8, 1-3 in conference play) enabled Linderman to give his entire lineup plenty of time on the floor. “It’s nice to be able to give playing time to the guys who come out and work hard every day in practice,” he said. “Overall, it was a nice team effort.” 

The third quarter was all Lawrence. The Golden Tornadoes came out in a full court press and forced five turnovers and a 10-second violation. All five Lawrence starters scored as the Golden Tornadoes enjoyed an 18-2 third quarter to take a 53-25 lead into the final quarter. 

Linderman gave his starters a rest for nearly all of the final quarter. Freshman guard Dwayne Daniel finished with eight points. Kwanze Baxter had a solid game off the bench for Lawrence. The senior guard/forward chipped in with a season-high six points. Shamseldin added four steals and four assists. 

Linderman was happy with the way his team balanced hard work and sportsmanship in the one-sided affair. “There’s that fine line,” Linderman said. “You can go out and do what you do and beat someone badly, or you can just do enough of what you do to secure the win, and show sportsmanship. Sometimes when you do the latter, it can make your team look sloppy or disorganized. It was nice to come out in the second half and play the way we did.” 

The Golden Tornadoes will travel to Plainedge on Tuesday. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.