Lake City boys get by Swansea

LAKE CITY — On Friday night against Swansea, Lake City looked like a team still feeling the effects of a near-collapse against Darlington on Tuesday.

But the Panthers shook off their early rust in defeating Swansea 77-62 on Friday in the second of the Class 3A boys playoffs.

Desmond Haygood and Willis Flowers each scored 14 points to lead five players in double figures.

Corey Baker and Dashawn Butler added 12 points apiece for the Panthers, while Jeremy McCrea followed with 10.

The Panthers (20-7) will travel to Region 6-3A champion Camden on Tuesday in the lower state semifinals.

“We always want balanced scoring,” Lake City coach Willie Thomas said. “When you have five or six guys in double figures, it’s hard to scout and defend you.”

Lake City came out flat in the opening moments, missing its first six shots and committing two turnovers. The Tigers capitalized, going on an 8-0 run in the first 3:37 of the contest.

“Swansea came out on an emotional high,” Thomas said. “You’re not as high in your own building as you would be on the road.”

Trenton Green did most of the damage in the early going for Swansea, scoring six points. But with his team leading 14-5 at the 2:20 mark of the first, Green was forced to the bench with his second foul.

The Panthers took advantage of Green’s absence by ending the period on an 8-3 run to close the deficit to 17-13 entering the second period.

“Trenton Green is a big part of our team,” said Tigers coach Jacob Smith, whose team ended the season 15-10. “He’s our leading scorer, rebounder and assist man.

“When he went out of the game, it did change the tempo for us.”

Even Green’s return to the floor early in the second couldn’t stop Lake City’s momentum.

Haygood’s three-point play gave the Panthers their first lead of the game, 28-25, with 2:01 remaining before halftime.

“We took a lot of tight shots early when we weren’t ready to,” Thomas said. “I didn’t think we were in any real danger because I knew the shots would eventually fall and they did.

“We knew going (into halftime) as poorly as we played, we were in good shape,” Thomas said. “That was a good sign for us.”

“They gave us their best shot, and we still had the lead,” Haygood said. “Coach (Thomas) told us we didn’t play our best. We had to come out and play our best in the second half and we did.”

Lake City took full control of the game in the third quarter. Utilizing Haygood’s speed, the Panthers mixed a well-known combination of full court pressure and up-tempo offense to send the Tigers into full retreat mode, outscoring Swansea 22-6 and leading 50-33 after three quarters.

“If Haygood gets the ball in the open court, our fast break game helps us get easy opportunities,” Thomas said. “He’s our fastest player and our catalyst.”

“My teammates said I didn’t come out with any fire in the first half,” Haygood said. “I came out in the second half and gave my team a spark.”

Green finished with a game-high 25 points for Swansea. Kyndon Smith followed with 14 points before fouling out late in the contest, and Damien Johnson added 11.

“We came out flat and sluggish. Lake City came out with a lot of energy and got a lot of layups,” Smith said. “We had to go deeper in our bench than we wanted to, and we dug ourselves too deep a hole in the third period to come back in the fourth.”