Boys B-ball: Laville-Argos nailbiter leaves Laville unbeaten
On paper even the average sports fan was aware that the Marshall County rivalry between Laville and Argos had the makings of being special in their 70th meeting Tuesday night.
Special indeed, as Laville walked away with a 47-46 win after blowing a 19 point halftime lead.
“I know we won, but it feels like we kinda lost in our locker room”, said Laville Head Coach Micheal Edison on the SPORTSTOTHEMAX.NET Post-Game Show. “I thought we did a lot things well in the first half. We were finishing on offense and locking down defensively. Somehow in the second half, we just lost the momentum, and it’s tough to stop a that “momentum train” when its rolling. And Coach Mossen really had his team rolling in the second half.”
After being down 31-12, the Dragons mounted an incredible 3rd quarter comeback outscoring Laville 19-7 in that frame. One reason, Jordan Norris. Argos made a halftime adjustment where Jordan Norris managed 12 of those 19 3rd quarter points alone.
“He’s a strong kid who is tough to hip out. We just couldn’t stop him in the 3rd quarter.”, added Edison.
It went back and forth in the final frame with Laville leading by 5 points at 36-31 after the 3rd quarter. The offensive exchange really heated up starting with a Laville sophomore Adam Steinke’s three pointer at the four minute mark to keep Laville on top by three, 40-37. Immediately after that score, Argos answered with their sophomore Vinnie Stone tying the game on his three pointer to tie it at 40-40.
After dislocating his “pinky”finger in the 3rd quarter, Lancer Blake Berger hit a clutch three pointer at the 2:07 mark giving his Lancers a three point lead again 45-40. Argos cut the deficit to two when Norris scored right after making the score 45-43. Laville turned it over on their next possession and Argos tied the game at 45 apiece on a Javan Miller score with 1:06 left in the contest. Laville’s Blake Berger then stroked another three pointer with 40 seconds left on the clock making the score 48-45 Lancers. Argos called a time out to run a set looking for the tie with a three point play, instead Laville’s defense guarded the perimeter well enough to just allow a Tyler O’Dell 2-point jumper cutting the Lancer lead to just one point in the final 7 seconds of the game. Laville managed to run the rest of the clock down for the win.
Argos falls to 1-3 with a trip to Jimtown in the midst of a 4 game road trip.
Laville (3-0) will travel to CMA Friday night. That game will be on SPORTSTOTHEMAX.NET.
