Boys Basketball: Lions Start Season in Disappointing Fashion

Coach Joe Killilea had a simple declaration to describe his basketball team's performance after a  63-55 loss to Wayland last night.

"I'm disappointed," said Killilea.

That disappointment was brought forth by the Lions inability to box out, sink shots and not commit turnovers in their opening season game. 

One positive on a night of many negatives was the efforts of Phil Levine-Caleb. The freshman came off the bench to score 15 points for the Lions, which surpassed Killilea's expectations.

"He played great," said Killilea. "He works real hard."

The Lions, who did not lead once during the game, went down early after the Warriors began the contest going on a 7-0. Newton South managed to claw its way back, eventually tying the game at 8-8 on a Steven Soares lay-up.

Wayland regained the lead and went on to close the quarter up 16-11 when the Warriors' Gabe Yanoff scored off of an offensive rebound. 

In what turned out to be a recurring theme, the Lions came back to tie the game at 18-18, thanks in large part to Levine-Caleb, who scored back-to-back baskets that included a three-point play. 

The Warriors, though, returned fire going on 19-7 run that left the score 37-25 at halftime. 

"Again, we didn't box out," said Killilea. "We turned it over 16 times in the first half. Wayland played a great game, but we did not play well."

Warrior Jaleel Bell began the second half draining a basket, but Levin-Caleb responded with yet another three-point play and teammate DJ Reid followed up with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 39-31.

That ignited a 9-3 run for Newton South, which was capped off when Solomon Lansana hit a 3-pointer. But that would be as close as the Lions would get for the remainder of the game. 

"We had it down to 43-40, but then we stopped boxing out," said Killilea. "We missed a bunch of shots and couldn't make a second run."

The Lions will look to bounce back when they host Bedford Friday at 7 p.m.