Gilmour boys' basketball hand Riverside its first defeat

“It’s been tough,” Coach Dan DeCrane said. “Our kids have been positive every day at practice and are getting better. The speed of the game does not bother them as much and our younger guys are constantly playing against great talent and physical kids and I feel like we are trending in the right direction.”

Fresh off of a victory against Eastmoor Academy on Dec. 27, the Lancers earned their first winning streak of the season when they defeated previously unbeaten Riverside 64-51 last Friday evening at Lancer Gymnasium in Gates Mills.

“It was a great win for us,” the fifth-year coach. “It was a great atmosphere. Our guys are pretty battle-tested against a tough schedule so it was good to find winning ways against a really nice team.”

In Gilmour’s (3-5) first seven games, it competed against teams which had a significant size advantage, but against the Beavers, the Lancers finally had some size to throw around at all five positions with its length and athleticism.

That left the door open for the Lancers to attack inside.

“It was helpful to open up the paint for us in helping some of the smaller guards attack a little bit better and that was definitely a benefit to open up and attack without as much length to take away the rim,” DeCrane said.

Gilmour focused on guarding junior guard Andrew Taggart and senior guard Charlie Fox holding the pair scoreless in the first quarter.

“We walled them and did not let them get downhill and really limited their paint touches and limited Taggart’s offensive rebounds,” DeCrane said.

Only two Beavers scored. Senior guard Jake Elly tallied five points and junior guard Brady McKnight scored two as Riverside only shot 21%.

Gilmour was not shy in attacking the rim with five different players scoring to take a 15-7 advantage in the first period.

The Lancers went on a 7-2 run to hold a 13-point lead in the second quarter, but Riverside responded to trimmed the lead to only four points.

Usually successful at ball security, Gilmour committed five turnovers in the second quarter allowing the Beavers to mount a rally.

“Riverside just played man the whole time but did a little bit of a box press and we did turnover it over against that two-two-one and it was a little bit of a careless turnover but they pressured us in the half court and we threw the ball away here and there,” DeCrane said.

Gilmour pushed the lead back to take a 30-22 advantage at the intermission.

The Lancers continued attacking the basket in the third quarter, forcing Riverside to foul early and often as Gilmour was in the bonus near the end of the period.

That put a lot of pressure on the Beavers to defend the rim without giving the Lancers opportunities from the foul line.

The Lancers shot 5 of 7 from the free-throw line and extended their lead to 44-32 at the end of the third quarter by forcing five Riverside turnovers and holding them to shooting at a 25% clip

“It turned into some transition opportunities for us which is really helpful so it was about using our length in man and zone to get some deflections in some run outs,” DeCrane said.

The Beavers rallied in the fourth period when senior guards Austin Lee and Peyton Burnett ignited the offense.

Lee started knocking down mid-range jump shots and scored 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Burnett got hot from beyond the arc to hit a pair of 3-pointers, fueling a 19-11 spurt, trimming the lead to four points with 3:30 remaining in regulation.

Despite being in the bonus, DeCrane said his team was too aggressive in driving to the rim and did not try and run their offensive sets.

“They just got some stops and made some shots with Burnett and Lee,” he said. “They were in the zone and we did not finish at the rim for a few possessions in a row but then we were able to push it back out.”

While Gilmour focused on keeping a man on both Fox and Taggart, the Beavers did the same by marking senior guard/forward Brandon Rose.

“They guarded him hard in the first half and spent a lot of energy guarding him,” said DeCrane. “Brandon had to reset himself and then come back with a positive mindset.”

The Beavers stifled Rose and held him to only six points on two-of-ten shooting in the first three quarters, but he woke up in the final quarter when it counted the most.

He hit three shots out of five attempts and knocked down all four free throws to preserve the Lancers’ lead.

“He was assertive and we got him in space a little bit,” DeCrane said. “He got to the baseline in the half court and he played well. He found ways to get a lot of rebounds which translated to a lot of points for him too so he played well in the second half.”

The Lancers forced 15 Riverside turnovers and allowed the Beavers to shoot only 30% for the game.

For the first time in a while, the Lancers finally played their brand of basketball.

“We were playing at home and had the speed advantage one through five, found the open court at times and converted enough,” DeCrane said. “I do not think we played great offensively but did enough to win but it was a more full 32-minute game than it had been.”

Following a road contest against Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin on Tuesday evening, Gilmour will host neighborhood rival Hawken at 7 p.m. Friday., then take on Maple Heights in the Cleveland Play-by-Play Classic at John Carroll University’s Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center at 11:45 a.m. Sunday.