Comets, Flyers looking for strong finish Friday night
The resurgent Lake Flyers will look to finish the regular season on a winning note when they travel east to rival Genoa (6-12) Friday night.
Considering the program’s struggles in recent seasons, Ryan Bowen’s Flyers have had much needed success. In two seasons Lake won a total of seven games and combined to finish 2-23 in league play.
“Changing the culture was our biggest challenge,” said Bowen, who has guided the Flyers to a 9-8 (5-5 SLL) record in his first season as head coach.
Bowen believes he has successfully changed his program’s culture and is confident they can win their last few games before tournament time. However, the Flyers know Genoa will come ready to play.
When these two teams met earlier this season, Lake controlled much of the game and went on to win handily by a score of 83-64.
The win against Genoa, which came a few days after the Flyers knocked off rival Eastwood, marked the first time in ten years that Lake defeated the perennial powers back-to-back.
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Lake senior guard Ahmad
Ismail. (Press photo by
Scott Grau) |
Overmyer is the last person who would like to see Lake achieve that feat again and will have his team ready to play on their home court.
“At this point in the season, we’re getting ready for our sectional opener on March 1st and we have four games to get ourselves ready to play. Hopefully, we can begin playing our best basketball,” said Overmyer.
The Comets, which lost leading scorers Matt Bassitt, Richard Wonnell, and Jon Lester to graduation, have been very streaky this season and posted a 1-9 record in league play.
“We knew going into the season we had graduated the majority of our scoring and rebounding last year,” said Overmyer, “so we knew it was going to be a transition for us. Getting a late start because of our football team’s playoff run set us back at the beginning of the season and we’re still trying to recover.”
At times this season the Comets have shown signs of progress, but have been unable to consistently perform to their potential.
“Throughout the season,” said Overmyer, “we’ve had some stretches where we’ve played good basketball and there’ve been other stretches where we have really struggled.”
Genoa has had strong finishes in previous seasons and Overmyer believes opponents are always ready to play his team.
“Our program has been very successful the last couple years and teams really get up to play Genoa. We’re a little more inexperienced than we have been in the past and teams have taken advantage of that and had some success against us.”
If Genoa wants to pick up another league win, they will have to rely on their seniors to contain Lake’s scoring threats. Rashad Smith, a 5-11 guard, is the SLL’s second leading scorer and has torched opposing defenses.
“The kid can flat out shoot,” said Bowen. “If you get him in space, he will knock down shots. He’s not afraid to pull the trigger at any spot and handles the ball well. He’s a special player, there’s just no doubt about it.”
Josh Tantari has also been effective and versatile for Lake. The 6-3 junior swingman is the team’s second leading scorer and according to Bowen is “about as athletic as you’re going to find in the league.”
Seniors Eric Schimming, Stephen Clark, and Luke Sutter have been key performers for the Comets and will be faced with the difficult task of containing Smith and Tantari.
Sutter, Genoa’s leading rebounder and scorer (10 ppg), has provided senior leadership and solid play all season long.
“We expect our seniors to be leaders,” said Overmyer. “They have the most experience and our other players look up to those guys. Luke has led us in scoring and rebounding since the beginning of the year and teams have made it a point to stop him.”
“At this point, each game is another opportunity for us to get better. Once the calendar flips to March it’s a brand new season,” Overmyer continued.
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