Lawrence Outruns Bethpage, 63-47

The Lawrence Golden Tornadoes got double digit scoring from five players and used their signature pressure defense to pull away from a scrappy Bethpage squad to land a 63–47 victory Friday night at Bethpage High School.

Lawrence improved their conference record to 9-2 with the win, putting them in the driver’s seat as they head towards the postseason.

“Every night it’s been a different guy,” said Lawrence head coach Pete Linderman. “The five starters have been averaging double digits, but then one of them always steps up big. They’re buying in.”

Friday night was no different. The Golden Tornadoes were led by Eddie Robinson and freshman Dwayne Daniel, who both had 13 points. Samson Bialostok had 10 points, Ibrahim Shamseldin had 11 points and Clifton Lyerly had 10 points, including two spectacular alley-oops — one at the very start of the game and one at the very end.

Lawrence was not able to play their brand of basketball in the first half. Bethpage matched them stride-for-stride in the running game, led by Greg Gerber (11 points) and Mohid Farhadi (13 points). As the game wore on, Lawrence’s trapping defense, good spacing on the break and crisp passing wore Bethpage down.

“We were under-manned,” said Bethpage head coach Andy Wright. “We had some good looks that didn’t go down and they’re a good, fast team.”

Gerber hit a layup with 2:21 remaining in the first half to give Bethpage the lead 23–22. Robinson immediately answered with his own layup to reclaim the scoreboard before stealing an inbounds pass with six seconds to play. He hit an off balance layup to push Lawrence's lead further to 26–23.

But Robinson wasn’t done. He came out in the first seconds of the second half to drain a long trey that pushed the lead to 29–23. That spark gave Lawrence the momentum they needed to ramp up their pressure, which led to a host of easy baskets off the break. The end result was Lawrence outscoring Bethpage 37–23 in the second half and cruising to the win.

“Aggressive defense got us some steals and easy baskets,” Shamseldin said. “That’s what it’s about for us.”

Lawrence's final game of the regular season will see the team face Plainedge at home on Monday at 6:15.