The Lake Orion Baptist School Lions visited the Auburn Hills Christian Cougars on Thursday for their first ever meeting.
Both teams got off to a ragged start in the first quarter. The Lions committed five turnovers in the first quarter to the Cougars who were unable to convert from those turnovers with the score being 8-5 at the end of the first, with the Cougars in the lead. The Lions finally got going in the second quarter and led 23-18 at the half. The Lions continued with breakaway lay-ups (5) in the third and led 36-24 going into the four quarter. The Cougars came alive in the fourth, creating their own turnovers from the Lions and scoring, putting the Lions to the test in free throw shooting. The Lions made 9 for 16 of their free throws in the fourth quarter and hung on to win, 49-45.
Brad Watterworth led the Lions in scoring and had another double-double game with 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks. James Noruk followed with 12 points, one rebound, two blocks and one assist.
Treavor Halleck had 11 points, two rebounds three steals and five assists.
Matt Cameron had six points, 11 rebounds, one steal and one assist.
Chris Hojnacki had two points, six rebounds, two steals and one assist.
The Lions are 12-3 for the season and are 6-1 in their conferencee (FBAC). They’re tied for first place with Bethany Christian, each team having only one conference loss — the games played against each other.
The Lions travel to Rochester Hills Christian, Thursday, and host Springfield Christian at home, Friday, for their final conference games of the season.
Michigan Association of Christian Schools (MACS) State Tournament begins the following week.
The Lions were seeded fourth in State Division 1. As a result they will have a bye in the first round.
Details for the Tournament will follow next week establishing the place and time of those games.
~ Joe Bullen