Sports

Oak Lawn Boys Basketball Finds Its Identity at Medieval Classic

Oak Lawn senior guard Lyndell Johnson rallied the Spartans in a team meeting, and they've posted back-to-back victories utilizing a full-court trapping defense and up-tempo style of play.

The way Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes and senior point guard Lyndell Johnson figure it the Spartans lost a game but gained an identity on the first day of play in the Medieval Classic.

Oak Lawn trailed Lincoln-Way East 45-15 in the third quarter of Monday’s boys basketball game on the Griffins' home floor in Frankfort, then utilized a full-court trapping defense to turn the tide. The Spartans cut the Lincoln-Way East's lead to 61-58 and had a couple of looks at a potential game-tying 3-pointer.

The ball didn’t fall, but Oak Lawn did, 62-58.

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Johnson, one of the Spartans’ captains and floor leaders, called an impromptu team meeting to air out his feelings after Rhodes challenged his players to show more heart and play with energy from start-to-finish.

“I think we have turned a corner,” Johnson said. “We had a team meeting, and we talked about a lot of things. We just knew we had to come out with energy every game and be consistent with that. Once we did that, we started getting wins. And, hopefully, this is the start of something big.”

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Oak Lawn (3-7) has rattled off victories over Shepard and Lincoln-Way West in the last 48 hours and has continued to play a brand of full-court trapping defense that allows the Spartans to create offensive opportunities and make the most of their quickness.

Johnson flashed a nose for the ball in helping the Spartans force seven turnovers in the first quarter of their 60-45 victory over Lincoln-Way West on Wednesday afternoon. He scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and was credited with four assists.

West played without sophomore point guard Kevin White, who sat out because of a concussion. Without him, the Warriors looked a bit like the injury-riddled Bears, that is to say, like a team without its starting quarterback.

Accordingly, Johnson and company siezed at the chance to make like a pack of hungry defensive backs spying into the eyes of a backup signal caller. And, needless to say, the Spartans had some fun picking West’s collective pocket.

“Yeah, it’s fun for us playing a full-court style like that,” Johnson said. “We can get easy buckets in transition. I like it a lot. We’re a smaller team. We like to beat other teams with our quickness and our speed and our aggressiveness.”

The Spartans still have a ways to go, but Rhodes likes the direction his team is heading in nowadays.

“We came back and cut it to three (61-58) by the end of the game, just by playing that way, with the pressure and the traps,” he said of Oak Lawn’s loss to Lincoln-Way East. “So, I think that’s kind of become our identity a little bit. We’re going to continue to do that.”

The Spartans will continue to look for a balanced offensive output, too.

Martin Einikis scored 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting against Lincoln-Way West. He hit a pair of 3-pointers and worked a couple of nice give-and-go opportunities with teammate Sean Altenburg.

Altenburg finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He also had seven rebounds and four assists.

“Those two have a good chemistry, and Sean (Altenburg) played by far his best game of the year, great energy defensively and, then, he finally got some shots to drop, which was big for him,” Rhodes said. “He’s been struggling. That was good to see.”

 

 

 

 


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