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Lakewood slowly works up to speed in a 69-43 conference win.
By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 14, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- For nearly every minute he spent on the floor Thursday night, St. Petersburg's Jason White talked and smiled at the player he was guarding, Lakewood's Marcus Morrison.
Talked to him in the lane, talked to him at the free-throw line, talked to him on offense and defense.
And for a while, he had something to talk about as the Green Devils held down the usually explosive Spartans
But afterwards, White could only shake his head.
"That press," he murmured to his friends. "It was that press."
And Morrison, too. Eventually, White and his teammates fell to both as Lakewood rolled to a 69-43 conference win.
The Spartans, No. 2 in Class 4A, pulled away once they figured out the Green Devils' triangle-and-2 defense, and once Morrison exerted himself.
Leading 28-21 at halftime, Kevin Dorsey slashed to the hoop for two points and Morrison scored the next nine as the Spartans (6-0) turned a bunch of third-quarter St. Petersburg turnovers into the decisive run.
After three consecutive Kory Crumbley 3-pointers made the lead 50-25, Morrison capped the run in dramatic fashion, taking an off-the-glass alley-oop pass from Marcus Lee and slamming it down to send the crowd into a frenzy.
"The triangle-and-2 was something we hadn't seen and it took us awhile to make the adjustments," Lakewood coach Dan Wright said. "It was just a matter of us making another pass or two."
A change in defense helped, too, as Lakewood switched from a man-press to a 2-2-1 that St. Petersburg (4-3) struggled with.
"That really put us in position to get the game opened up the way we wanted it," Wright said.
Morrison finished with a game-high 28 points, and Dorsey added 13. Ricky Pena had 12 to lead the Green Devils.