LIBERTY TWP. — Clint Adkins called it a must-win situation Saturday night against Greater Miami Conference rival Fairfield.
The Lakota East boys basketball coach put a label on it for more than one reason.
The Thunderhawks eventually earned the victory in convincing fashion, and a lot of it had to do with senior Trey Perry — the future Miami RedHawks prospect who dazzled a home crowd with shifty buckets and a pair of electrifying fourth-quarter dunks.
That’s when the must-win part comes into play.
One. The Thunderhawks let one slip — at home — last week against Oak Hills, which handed Lakota East its first conference loss.
“They did a great job against us, but we laid an egg,” Adkins emphasized.
The Highlanders held the Thunderhawks scoreless in the second quarter and to 1-of-20 shooting from behind the arc — which won’t win many games for anyone at any level. Lakota East lost 40-27.
Two. East had an opportunity to rebound against the team at the top of the conference standings, Fairfield.
“We didn’t get a chance to play Tuesday night,” Adkins said of a wintery-weather postponement. “The kids were foaming out the mouth. We wanted to get back out there.”
Hypothetically, it was noticeable the Thunderhawks were teething once they tipped off against the Indians.
Because minutes later, Lakota East enjoyed a 14-2 run that led to a 33-16 halftime lead.
“That’s a dream scenario,” Adkins said. “Obviously, we got going. We hit some shots. Last week, we did just an aberration, and that happens.”
It didn’t happen again to the Thunderhawks.
Rather, it happened to the Indians, who recently have been struggling to balance their schedule due to Christmas break and snow days away from the classroom.
“I’ve talked about this a lot,” Fairfield coach DJ Wyrick said. “When we’re not in school, and we’re not in our routine, we’re not very good. And we’re trying to find ways to get that corrected — bring them in for a shoot-around, get them up early.
“I don’t know what it is,” Wyrick added. “If it’s a maturity piece. We’re just not the same team. If this was a Friday after school, maybe we approach it differently. But our approach tonight was not there. It was just flat.
“It was our urgency from the start,” Wyrick continued. “I didn’t love our approach coming in. I just felt like we didn’t have the same juice that we’ve had in other games. The locker room was a little bit flatter. I just sensed a ‘this is just another game.’”
Wyrick was right.
It wasn’t just another game. It was the GMC’s number one against the GMC’s number two. Fairfield, which was unbeaten in the conference, against Lakota East, which was itching to rebound within the conference.
“We got out-toughed,” Wyrick said. “You look at the 50-50 balls. They’re getting them — 90% of them, if not more. We just weren’t ready to compete for whatever reason. Obviously, that’s on us as coaches to get them mentally ready to do that. We weren’t able to do that.”
Perry finished with a game-high 34 points, Lakota East fired 61.4% from the floor and Fairfield was handed its first GMC loss of the season in a 65-49 contest.
“You come off a rough game against Oak Hills,” Perry said. “We laid an egg. We really did. Coming off a break with young guys, we just had one of those games you have during the season, which is rough.
“We didn’t bow our heads and get down on ourselves,” Perry added. “We just work every day in practice, stick to the game plan, believe in our coaches. We just came out here and did what we had to do.”
Fairfield’s Michael Lewis put on a superb performance by scoring a team-high 24 points. But the Indians only got 10 minutes out of Daviawne Crim, who left the game with shoulder issues.
As the season’s halfway point has passed, it’s now Fairfield, Lakota East and Princeton sitting with 6-1 records at the top of the GMC — vying for a league title.
“We want games like this,” Wyrick said. “We don’t want to lose them, but we want tough games. We just want to continue to improve every day. Hopefully, this makes us better.”
