Lew-Port handles the Bulldogs

Life is not about action, it’s about reaction.

Lewiston-Porter head coach Matt Bradshaw told his junior point guard, Jake Kasbaum, he wasn’t being aggressive enough on the offensive end and sat him for the majority of the opening quarter.

Kasbaum took his coach’s words to heart.

After only getting a single bucket in the first, the junior scored 17 combined points in the second and third quarter as the Lancers took care of business with an 89-56 win over the Kenmore East Bulldogs in NFL boys basketball action Friday night.

“I sat Jake on the bench and told him, ‘if you don’t want to play offense you’re going to stay here’,” Bradshaw said. “He came back out and scored 17 points. He showed me.”

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead as senior Tyler Everett got a layup and junior D’Anzo Young picked up and steal n’ score just a minute into the game. Junior big-man Joe Powers grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw and put it in to cut the Lancer deficit to one. Lew-Port got the lead on a long jump shot from junior Trent Scott with 4:45 left in the first.

Junior Jason Boslet began and ended a 9-2 run for Lew-Port with two three-pointers in the final two minutes of the quarter putting the Lancers ahead 28-12.

Kasbaum made a quick layup to get things started in the second. Scott followed it up a basket from beyond the arc. Kasbaum contributed to a Lancer two-minute 7-0 run with a three-pointer of his own. Boslet capped off the half with another ‘trey’ giving Lew-Port a 53-18 lead.

Scott quickly found Powers on the rush in the opening seconds of the second half and then the ‘three-ball’ started to fall for both teams. Everett got back-to-back three-pointers. Scott knocked down his third of the game. Senior Kahlil O’Neil picked one up and Everett hit another. Yet, Lew-Port stayed well in control of the game leading 76-34 at the end of the stanza.

Both teams’ success from beyond the arc continued as six three-pointers were made in the fourth quarter.

Kenmore East had several players who were ineligible to play Friday night and it hurt them, especially in the front-court.

“I had four kids suspended, three kids were big-men. That doesn’t help us,” Bulldogs head coach Jay Robbins said. “We made shots in the second half but not in the first half. You have to be able to play with pressure on you.”

Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday. The Bulldogs will head to CSAT for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff. Lew-Port will host Grand Island at 7 p.m.

According to Scott, the Lancers can take a great deal of confidence from the win and use it going forward.

“We played the way we are capable of playing,” said Scott, who had a team-high 25 points. “If we stay consistent and show that every game, we can do big things.”