Lancers hold off Pioneers

By Laura Clark

Published: January 14, 2009

With a small lead against Heritage entering the fourth quarter, the Lancers irritated coach Eddie Carter when Mario Vaughan set up Anthony Rose on a fast break for a failed alley oop. It was a characteristic occasional misstep.

“Oh my gosh. We were up six and needed to get some command of the game,” Carter said. “He had a wide open layup. Mario has something for the dramatics. I got on him, and we’ll forgive him for that.”

So when Rose did a give-and-go with Tyler Brown for a dunk at the buzzer, well, that was deserved, and Carter just grinned.

His team may have had lapses of judgment and gotten sloppy at times, but they found what it took to finish the game ahead Jan. 12. Amherst (5-3, 3-2) defeated Heritage 65-56, an important win toward district and regional seeding.

The Pioneers (5-8, 1-4) pulled within three in the fourth quarter when Rose picked up his fourth foul and sent Tevan Crews to the line. But the Lancers found their answer with junior guard Jordan McCray, who was relentless driving baseline and getting open for a quick bucket when his teammates broke the Pioneer press. He scored 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a great driver,” said Rose, who added 10 points and six rebounds. “I would try to drive and dish to him. Whoever’s on him, I think he can take to the rack.”

Heritage and Amherst matched up in many ways: scrappy, physical defense and lots of turnovers. Each team had about 15 turnovers in the game, and both produced points in transition. But when things seemed chaotic, the Lancers found a way to settle down. It’s a big change from last season.

“Last year was a horrible year,” senior Phillip Bowling said. “When things got out of control we just kept on. We didn’t really care about the team; it was more of an individual thing. This year it’s more like a team effort.”

Bowling said he and his teammates learned from last year and the players who’ve moved up fit right in. The Lancers started the game slow, but began to move the ball around and keep pace with the Pioneers.

“When we move around and move the ball, I feel like we get more good shots that go in instead of all this one-on-one,” Bowling said. “In our loses, we went one-on-one a lot and it didn’t turn out well.”

Bowling led the Lancers with seven rebounds. He also added eight points. Carter said Bowling and McCray were just two of the big players coming into their own Jan. 12.

“Anthony Rose had a monster game on the boards and scoring,” Carter said. “He’s worked really hard and went from scoring two points a game to double figures. Mario Vaughan, in a stretch where we weren’t playing very well, he hit some big threes. He got us going.”

With about three minutes left in the game, Amherst led by 10 after Bowling converted a three-point play.

The Pioneers began fouling heavily. Chris Phelps knocked down a three with 30 seconds left and put back Sylvon Jones’ miss the next trip down the court. Amherst only made 7 of 13 foul shots in the final two minutes, but these balanced the Heritage rally.

“Hopefully by tournament time it’ll be as pretty as it’s going to get,” Carter said. “Basketball, when you don’t play it all year long, you’re not going to be real polished. But you can compete. You can play hard. Most high school teams, if you don’t beat yourself, you can win with that kind of effort.”