Just as fortune favors the bold, the tempo favored the visitors during Friday night’s boys’ basketball game between Lakewood and Jordan in North Long Beach. The visiting Lancers (2-2, 2-1) pushed the pace and outran the Panthers (0-4) in an 83-39 Moore League victory.
“We just took care of business, that was it,” said Lakewood head coach Duane Cooper after the win. “We did what we’re supposed to do–no more, no less. We’ve got to clean some things up, but I think with the number of practices we’ve had, not a bad job.”
Senior guard Jalen Shores had a game-high 22 points for Lakewood, going 9/17 from the field with four made threes while adding four assists. Meanwhile, sophomore Mason Pacheco scored nine of his 16 points in the final quarter for the Lancers. Junior Corali’i Mila was an active presence all night, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the first half while serving as an x-factor on both sides of the ball.
“When he has his mind right, he’s really really good,” Cooper said of Mila. “He can do a lot of things for us. He’s a matchup nightmare because he’s strong enough to do things with the big guys and he’s fast enough to do things other guards can’t do.”
Jordan was led by nine points from Oliver Vasillas. Ju’Waun Dixon added eight points for J-Town, all in the third quarter.
Shores scored the first five points of the game for Lakewood, and the Lancers raced out to a 24-12 lead after the first quarter before leading 41-16 at halftime.
Lakewood will visit Cabrillo on Monday in an important early-season showdown in the middle of the Moore League standings. Meanwhile Jordan hosts Millikan on Monday with both teams in search of their first victory of the young season.
