Lake Orion shuts down Young, stuns Troy 66-47
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY — What do you get when you take away the do-it-all star player of a 10-1 team? A shocking upset, says Lake Orion.
Lake Orion came into Troy, shut down Colts super sophomore James Young, and ended up routing the Colts 66-47 in OAA White Division.
The Dragons outscored Troy 22-4 in the fourth quarter.
The Colts beat the Dragons at Lake Orion on Dec. 8, 67-52, and came into Thursday’s game alone in first place in the OAA White at 10-1, 7-1. Young scored 26 in that game.
Young, who came in averaging 22.6 points per game, was almost a no-factor. He scored just nine points, including only two field goals, in his first game not leading the team in scoring.
Lake Orion (2-9, 2-7) stopped him with a fierce box-and-one that harassed Young all night long.
“We weren’t able to get him the ball enough, and when we did, he didn’t have a good opportunity to shoot,” said Troy coach Gary Fralick. “They were very physical with him, and we didn’t react to a new defense that we hadn’t seen all year the way we should have.”
“He’s a great player. We told our kids we weren’t going to allow (Young) to touch the ball,” said Lake Orion coach Mike Shafkalis, the first coach to hold Young to single digits in points. “Against the trap, we wanted to wear him down a bit.”
Young played a lot of defense as the front line of the Colts’ 1-3-1 defense in addition to running around frantically trying to get open on offense.
The Dragons put up their biggest surge in the fourth quarter, and kept going after players like Young. They hit a 3-pointer in the first nine seconds, and then added seven free throws over the course of the next 5:20. The Dragons went inside to get to the line, having their way over the Colts.
“We needed to be patient, run our half-court press offense, and we did that and succeeded with it,” said Shafkalis. “We did not play with enough energy on defense. We didn’t get into the passing lanes enough,” Fralick added. “Lake Orion made the right decisions.”
In that time, Troy managed just a Maceo Baston free throw. By the end of the spurt, Orion led 54-44.
The Colts tried to get Young the ball, but Lake Orion played him tight constantly.
When Young did find the ball in his hands, two or three Dragons were all over him. Young finally hit a free throw with 1:44 left, but that only cut the deficit to 54-45.
Lake Orion broke the press for a missed shot and put-back, and then poured in two technical foul free throws ten seconds later.
Two press-breaking easy layups in the final minute turned it into a rout.
Troy shot 0-for-7 from outside the arc and 0-for-10 total from the floor in the fourth quarter, unable to get anything going against Lake Orion’s physical, lock-down defense.
“I think they got tired a little bit; a lot of their guys played a lot of minutes,” said
Shafkalis.
Troy looked to run away with the game in the first half as they did last month. Senior John Stibich and Mahone each nailed 3-pointers and Al Wise put in an acrobatic bucket and a free throw, putting Troy up 13-6 early.
“In the first half, it didn’t bother us much,” said Fralick of the box-and-one.
More tight defense by Lake Orion sparked an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter that kept the Dragons in it.
Even Young’s dunk in the final minute of the first quarter could only fire up the Colts for a moment.
“Well, we told our kids not to panic, if they get a dunk or a couple fast breaks, just
not to worry,” said Shafkalis. “We just kept playing our game.”
Fellow Troy contributors Stibich and Mahone were also small factors. Stibich was 2-for-9 from downtown for six points, and Mahone was 4-for-17 from the floor for ten points.
“The other guys on the team (other than Young) needed to step up and hit some shots,” said Fralick.
As a team, Troy shot 16-for-54 from the floor and hit only two field goals in the second half. Lake Orion out-rebounded the Colts 22-11 in the second half.
In all, the game was a complete role reversal from the first contest.
“They were the aggressors,” said Fralick. “They were out for blood and revenge. We took them too lightly. I should have put more urgency into this game. The intensity was not good enough in practice; I felt that way all week.”
Now, Troy will have to get right back up to play Auburn Hills Avondale, now tied for first place in the OAA White with Troy and Berkley.
“We handled winning pretty well,” said Fralick of his team’s eight-game winning streak. “Now we’ll find out how we handle losing. We need to fight through adversity.”
Justin Walukonis finished 7-for-9 from the foul line and swished five jumpers to finish with 18 points for Lake Orion (2-9, 2-7). Chaz Miller added 12 points, John McCarty also scored 12 points, Connor McCormick tossed in eight points and transfer Brad Watterworth chipped in with seven points for the Dragons, which attempted 33 free throws and converted 24 of them.
(Jake Lourim is a sophomore at Troy High School and a member of the NorthOaklandSports.com student writers.)
Category: Lake Orion, Prep Wraps, Troy
