Lake Braddock staves off the Stallions

The Lake Braddock Bruins seem to be getting back to their winning ways on the court, as they won their second game in a row last night. After an 8-0 start the Bruins would go on a three game skid only for a new winning streak to begin, including last night’s 64-61 win over South County, leaving them now at a 10-3 record. However, as one might have guessed this game wasn’t a cake walk in any sense of the word.

In the first quarter, Lake Braddock jumped out to a quick start, led by Center James Butler who racked up 28 points in the win. The next two quarters would become very defensive leading to a suspenseful fourth quarter. After combining for only 22 points in the 2nd, Lake Braddock led South County 33-27, when the 3rd quarter began it seemed as though LB would pull away. Following a small run the Bruins built a 12 point lead, winning 51-39. But two Stallion shots made it a single digit lead again, in fact the Bruins were outscored 13-18 in the final quarter.

The key to this game was the amount of free throws and turnovers that occurred, Lake Braddock’s Trey Stephens fouled out in the 4th quarter which enabled South County to pull within two points. Fortunately the Stallions weren’t strong at making free throws, only nailing 4 of their 10 attempts, while Lake Braddock made 17 of their 19 free throws. The Bruins had a few costly steals that also helped South County climb back in to the ball game. It seemed as though the ball carrier was in a hurry to unload a pass without thinking about the defensive coverage in front of him.

Lake Braddock is starting to get back on track if you look at the win/loss column, but they need to improve defensively, if they’re expecting a deep run into the playoffs. Stretching their lead to 12 only for it to be cut down to 2, is an alarming sign of things needing improvement. If it weren’t for the fact that South County couldn’t handle their free throws after the fouls that took place, this definitely would’ve been a Stallions’ win. A good defensive match, with a few things for both teams to work on.