The Lakeland High School boys’ basketball team finished out last week in a way that left its coach encouraged, despite the Cavaliers falling 68-58 to Booker T. Washington High School on Saturday in the Bulldog Showcase at King’s Fork High School.

Lakeland coach Clint Wright had been disappointed in his team’s unfocused performance against visiting conference foe Heritage High School on Jan. 13.

But the Cavs rebounded for a win on Friday at Phoebus High School and continued that strong play for most of the game against the Bookers, prompting Wright to say he was “well-pleased with our efforts.”

Lakeland held a 17-14 lead against Booker T. Washington after the first quarter and had a 34-29 advantage at halftime.

“Booker T. played with a sense of urgency in the third quarter,” Wright said, and the Bookers’ efforts helped them outscore the Cavaliers 25-9 in that period.

He said the Cavaliers struggled for a four- to five-minute stretch in the third as they committed some critical turnovers, failed to rebound well and were out of sync in terms of defensive positioning.

Lakeland went back to outscoring Booker T. Washington in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough.

“You have to try to win every quarter, if at all possible,” Wright said. “Just the little things is what hindered our success.”

But aside from the third-period lapse, “definitely, I thought that we played very well,” Wright said.

Lakeland sophomore guard Jerry Goodman led his team with 16 points.

“His shooting was very efficient,” the coach said.

Cavs junior forward Deonta Knight added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and senior guard Kenya Latham had eight points and six assists.

“Terry Mitchell came in and played some real sound defense,” Wright said.

Saturday’s game was the first time Lakeland had faced the Bookers since they had eliminated the Cavaliers from the Group 4A South Region playoffs last February, ending Lakeland’s 2013-14 season with a 66-56 defeat.

Wright noted the similarities and differences of Saturday’s game to last season’s encounters with BTW.

“When you play teams often, you kind of get used to their style of play,” he said, noting Saturday’s game had a familiar physical nature. “Whenever you play Booker T., you’re going to have to be mentally and physically tough.”

Wright said the Bookers and Cavaliers do some of the same things on the court since his approach is similar to that of Booker T. Washington coach Darren Sanderlin, his former college teammate.

Lakeland showed some improvement against Booker T. on Saturday, though.

“I thought it was different because we shot the ball better than we had against them in the past,” he said.

The Cavaliers fell 69-53 to Heritage on Jan. 13, but brought their conference record back to .500 with a 75-67 win over Phoebus on Friday.

“I just think the sheer focus going into the Phoebus game was a lot better,” Wright said.

Deonta Knight played only about three quarters of the game due to foul trouble, but still managed to pile up 21 points and six boards.

Additionally, with Knight’s minutes limited, “we had some players to step up.”

Junior guard Daquan Boyette registered 14 points, junior forward Kayonta Brown added 10 points and Jerry Goodman had nine.

Lakeland (8-8, 2-2) will visit Nansemond River High School (7-8, 0-4) on Friday after a break this week for exams.