Boys Basketball Review: Lakeland

Lakeland, with a young team, had an up and down season but it did come away with a playoff victory, something that it can build off of for next year with seven players returning.

The No. 17 Hornets (9-11) won 68-57 against No. 16 Beacon in the outbracket of the Section 1 Class A Tournament before losing  to No. 1 Kennedy Catholic (18-2) in the first round.

"It was a big win, to beat Beacon," Lakeland coach Henry Weltman said. "We had a lot of kids on the team that never had been in a playoff game before. They played very well against Beacon. And even though we got spanked against Kennedy, they found out what playing a No. 1 seed was all about and how hard you have to work and good you have to be to be a No. 1 seed."

Winning postseason awards for the Hornets were juniors, forward, Alex Perlman and guard Matt Tartaglia, who were both named all-league.

"Alex has been with us the last two years and the nice part of it is that we will have him for one more season," Weltman said. "He will be a third-year varsity ballplayer next year, so that will be nice."

Tartaglia is also returning. 

"Matt is going to be a second year varsity ballplayer next year," Weltman said. "He didn't get a lot of playing time in the first couple of games in our tournament but after that he really came on strong. He showed a lot of toughness. He really knows the game."

Senior point guard Savahn Steadman also made some big contributions to the Hornets this year as did senior center Marcus Lent.

"Savahan Steadman, when he is under control, he sees the whole floor, he makes some really nice passes," Weltman said. "He plays tough defense, he runs the fast break really well and knows how to finish."

"Marcus Lent played very well for us too, our center," Weltman continued. "He had some big games down the stretch for us. When he was on, he could score a lot of points, rebound and play defense."