Big second half powers Lake Clifton

Down by 5 at the half, Lakers raise pressure to beat Surrattsville, 49-37, head to final

Lake Clifton's Rasheed Brown tries to break through as he's double-teamed by Surrattsville's Robert Middleton, left, and Nathaniel Christian in the first half Friday. The Lakers will seek their fifth state title today. ( Doug Kapustin/photos for the Baltimore Sun)

Ronald Lucas, right, gets a piece of the ball to disrupt Middleton's shot inside Xfinity Center. (??)

COLLEGE PARK — Little has come easy for the Lake Clifton boys basketball team this season, which came in lean on experience, size and proven go-to players on offense.

These deficits have forced the No. 14 Lakers to dig deeper and continue to grow throughout the season, and they were ready for the second half of Friday's Class 1A state semifinal game against pesky Surrattsville.

Down by five points after scoring just 14 in the first half, Lake Clifton showed resolve rather than panic to come away with a 49-37 win over the Prince George's County-based Hornets at Maryland's Xfinity Center.

Sophomore Rasheed Brown scored 13 points and added nine rebounds, senior Shauntaze Drake added 10 points and 12 rebounds, and senior Kai Thompson finished with 12 points.

Lake Clifton (17-10) will seek the program's fifth state championship when it makes its sixth trip to the title game today, taking on Pocomoke at 1 p.m. Last year, the Lakers' senior-laden team fell to New Town, and Thompson was their only returning starter this season.

Down 19-14 at the break, the Lakers clawed ahead in the third quarter and then turned it on in the fourth. They held the Hornets (15-11) to just two field goals in the third quarter and four in the fourth.

What was the difference in the second half?

“Hard work. And it all started in our gym” at practice, Drake said. “It was very important because coach [Herman ‘Tree' Harried] told us that we'll have to make plays down the stretch, regardless if we were down or up. That helped us get the win.”

Despite the weak first-half offense, Harried's halftime talk was about defense. With that pressure cranked up in the second half, the offense came, too. In the last minute of the third quarter, Thompson converted a three-point play and Drake followed with a steal and layup to provide the Lakers with a 27-24 lead going into the fourth quarter. From there, a 12-2 run followed — Drake helped with a 3-pointer in between four points from Brown — to provide a 39-26 advantage that sent them on their way.

“We let our lack of offense dictate our effort on defense” in the first half, Harried said. “In the locker room, I said, ‘If there's anything we have control of, it's our defense,' and we played much better defense.”

Brown got the Lakers off to a good start, but it didn't last long. After the Hornets scored the opening basket, he hit two free throws, a 3-pointer and a put-back for an 8-2 Lakers lead with 5:01 left in the first quarter.

But while Surrattsville methodically settled in, the Lakers went cold from the field, hitting just three shots in the final 13-plus minutes of the half.

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