GAINESVILLE — Before the season, Lakeview Academy and Riverside Military Academy both were expecting their lone meeting of the season to be for first place in Region 8-A.
Instead, Friday’s showdown at Curtis Hall was more about just trying to stay in the playoff conversation for both squads, who came in riding matching three-game losing streaks. Lakeview came in sitting 33rd while Riverside was in 17th in the Class A Private power rankings. Only the top 24 advances to the playoffs.
The Lions hit 11 3-pointers, including eight in the first half, to take a 67-57 win in a game they led for all but one minute.
The teams traded baskets in the opening minute with Lakeview’s Conley Millwood draining a long 3-pointer for a 5-4 lead. That ignited an 11-0 run as Holden Cooper and Millwood again hit treys to push the lead to 13-4. Riverside never got closer than three the rest of the way.
It also marked the first game of the season for Lakeview (8-15, 3-5 Region 8-A) playing with its full roster.
“Having everyone available made a big difference for us,” Lakeview coach Todd Cottrell said. “We shot the ball very well, especially in the first half. This group needed that.”
The Eagles, however, closed out the opening period with a 6-2 spurt as Bryce Klancynski scored underneath and Shad Dabney and Areeb Ahmad each hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 15-10. They got to 15-12 on a basket by Philemon Nwosu to open the second quarter.
But the Lions Roman Yaskulka knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers and Cooper added another as the Lions pushed their lead to 24-14.
Riverside (8-10, 4-3 Region 8-A) again answered to pull within 26-20 on two more Dabney free throws. But Lakeview got 3-pointers from Millwood and Jones Harris and an Isaac Marcero basket at the buzzer for a 34-23 halftime lead.
Riverside coach Marvin Latham, whose team has dropped a season-high four straight following a four-game win streak, said they need to get back to the basics.
“We’re not shooting the ball well, we turned the ball over way too much, and we didn’t get back on defense,” Latham said. “We need to get back to the way we were playing before the Christmas break and all of those things are key.”
In the first half, Lakeview did most of its damage from outside hitting 8-of-13 3-pointers. Riverside, meanwhile, was just 1-for-4 from beyond the arc. The Eagles finished just 2-of-7 from 3-point range.
The Eagles got eight points from the free-throw line as they tried to use their height advantage. But a dozen turnovers lead to 8 Lakeview points in the half.
Early in the third quarter, Lakeview pushed its lead to 43-29 on a rare four-point play from Declan Weidner and again at 56-42 early in the fourth quarter on a basket from Ben Montgomery.
The Eagles made one last charge getting to within 56-50 capped by a stick-back basket from Klancynski. They had a chance to cut it to four but Weidner made a huge block on a layup attempt, which was turned into a three-point play by Sam Stewart on the other end.
The Lions sealed it by hitting 8-of-10 free throws in the final 1:40 of the game.
Both coaches believed there is still time to make a playoff push.
“For us to have a shot, we have to play like we did tonight,” Cottrell said. “(Making the playoffs) is still possible.”
“You know what they say: winning cures all. We just need to get a win,” Latham said. “We’re going to go back Monday and keep working and try to improve on the things we need to improve on. If we do that, we should be fine to be there at the end.”
Klancynski paced Riverside with a game-high 20 points. Dabney finished with 16 points.
Holden Cooper led Lakeview with 14 points and Weidner had 13 points. Millwood finished with 11 points and Stewart had 7 points, all in the fourth quarter.
