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Lake boys basketball coach Ryan Bowen played for two different head coaches during his three years on the Flyers' varsity team in the early 1990s.
“I played for Tim Smith my sophomore year and Jim Bartosky my junior and senior year,” Bowen said. “We pushed the ball a little bit. Tim was a 100 percent offense guy. He wanted to take shots, but he also wanted to play half-court ball. With coach Bart, we shot a lot but he also liked to slow it down.”
Bowen, in his first season as Lake's coach, would rather turn a basketball game into a track meet.
“I'm big on penetrating and kicking it out for a wide open shot,” said Bowen, who has coached AAU ball for the past 10 years. “I'm OK with a one-shot system. If it's an open shot, it's an open shot. We want to push the ball up the court with passes as quick as we can and get away from the dribble. We're big on our post players hitting our point guards with an outlet pass, and if we can get it back to our big men, that's what we want to do. The kids love to play that style.”
The notion of running up and down the court isn't a new idea. If a team can execute playing that style, great. If not, it's time to go to plan B. Bowen said the Flyers are gradually adjusting to his system.
“The kids have really bought into it,” he said. “We just have to take care of the ball better. When we play at a frantic pace, the turnovers will be higher. We forced Lakota into 36 turnovers, but we had 22. If we can force 36 turnovers a night, we'll be a tough team to beat.”
Lake's full-court pressure wore down Lakota last Saturday, and the Flyers outscored the Raiders 35-19 in the second half in a 62-40 romp. Lake (3-2) is forcing nearly 30 turnovers a game, but there is still room for improvement.
“We had 29 turnovers against Oak Harbor (in a 64-61 loss),” Bowen said. “If we can cut our turnovers in half, things will obviously be better for us.”
The Flyers dealt Rossford an 80-77 loss in their season opener, but they followed that win with a 90-62 loss at Suburban Lakes League favorite Elmwood.
Tuesday, Rashad Smith scored 34 points, Kurt McKee had 17 and Josh Tantari as Lake defeated Northwood 91-73 in The Battle of Lemoyne Road played at Owens Community College. With that win, the Flyers matched last year’s win total.
Lake is trying to rebound from last season's 3-18 disaster, so Bowen knows getting his players' confidence back will take some time.
“Elmwood has seven seniors back and they played like they were picked to win it,” Bowen said. “We didn't believe 100 percent we could win. Then we turned around the next night and lost to Oak Harbor. In the two games we've lost, we've gotten outrebounded bad. With our style of play, we need to limit shots.”
The Flyers' primary ball handlers are senior Ahmad Ismail, a three-year starter, and juniors Ryan Kohlhofer and Rashad Smith.
“Ismail is good on defense, and his deal is to run the show and play good defense,” Bowen said. “Ryan is probably our best on-the-ball defender. He's a fast kid. He's a little better scorer than Ahmad, but he has to take care of the ball a little better to get solid minutes.
“Rashad is one of my two main scorers. He plays a lot of AAU basketball year round. He plays nothing but basketball. He had 28 points against Rossford and right now he's averaging 18 points. From a point guard position, he gives us a whole different look.”
Lake's second-leading scorer is 6-foot-3 junior guard Josh Tantari, who is averaging 15 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game. Tantari had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven steals against Oak Harbor.
“He's our best overall athlete,” Bowen said. “He's long and athletic. He's a slasher, a get-to-the-basket-type guy who can fill up the stat sheet.”
The Flyers are also getting contributions from 6-4 junior post Dylan Hirzel, 6-0 senior Kurt McKee (11 ppg.), 6-5 senior Devon Robinson and 6-4, 260-pound sophomore Marcus Pierce, who was called up to the varsity just last weekend. Pierce had nine rebounds in his varsity debut against Lakota.
“We play a lot of bodies,” Bowen said. “With the style we play, we'll easily play 10 kids a night.”
Lake's boys and girls’ teams are playing all of their home games at Owens Community College this season. Bowen's squad is 2-0 at home and 0-2 on the road. Owens has a 94-foot court.
“We practice at East Broadway Junior High, and thankfully they let us do that,” Bowen said. “It's 20 feet shorter than Owens and it takes time for our kids to make adjustments with our press. We have spots to go to, and that spot is a lot different to go to at Owens and there's a lot more room to cover.
“Owens is a great place to play basketball. One of the things I was concerned about is we don't get to practice there. Our first game there, that was first time we took that court. So far, it's been good.”
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