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Lyons overwhelmed by Perspectives-Leadership in first half, loses in Jack Tosh Holiday Classic second round

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Lyons coach Tom Sloan spent most of the first half of Saturday afternoon’s game with a similar look on his face.

As he watched – in horror, most likely – Perspectives-Leadership forced turnovers in abundance, pushed the pace for transition baskets, drilled 3-pointers and attacked the glass. Most of the half, Sloan kept his hands in each of his front pockets with a frustrated and helpless look.

For many years, the Warriors were often confused as the school that NBA superstar Anthony Davis attended, but he played at Perspectives Charter.

The Warriors put on a next-level type show of their own against the Lions, scoring 36 points in the first half to post a 63-38 rout on the second day of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York.

Perspective’s Jayden Taylor led all scorers with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and hitting two 3s. Morgan Travis added 15 points and made three 3s for the Warriors (8-3). The Lions picked up 14 points and six rebounds from Grant Smith and Nate Woods finished with 10 points and six boards.

Sloan praised the Warriors for playing a complete game.

“Perspectives played very well,” Sloan said. “They definitely deserve to move on and play in the quarterfinals. It was not our best performance. The first half we dug ourselves quite a hole. I appreciated the effort the kids put in the second half. We didn’t get as enough much out of what we were trying to do pressure wise, but we generated a bit of momentum.

“We didn’t shoot it well, turned the ball over and we didn’t play very good defense, so in this game, it was recipe for what happened.”

The Warriors harassed the Lions with their suffocating defensive pressure and solid guard play, while dominating the glass.

“We just executed our gameplan and came out aggressive on defense,” Taylor said. “We got a lot of steals and charges and executed really well.”

The final score wasn’t a true indicator of the blowout nature of the game. The Lions missed all 12 of their first-half 3-pointers, trailing 16-5 after the first quarter and 36-9 at halftime.

“In the first half, I felt we had plenty of good looks,” Sloan said. “They also challenged them, so we were a bit rushed and it kind of snowballed. We didn’t shoot it well and we also turned it over and forced things. They got a few runouts and open shots and made some tough contested shots. Perspectives was very good today. It was a struggle for our guys.”

The Lions shot 5-for-23 on 3s (21.7 percent) and did not hit the 20-point mark until Woods scored a basket late in the third quarter.

“It was not our best performance of the season, by far,” Sloan said. “The message to (the players) was that we have to be better than this (game). We’re a good basketball team and will come back on Monday and hopefully play a lot better than we did today.”

Bob Narang

Bob Narang is a contributing sports reporter to Shaw Local News Network