If the main point of summer basketball league games is to learn ahead of the upcoming season, Lakeland hopefully learned a valuable lesson Thursday night against Warwick during King’s Fork’s Summer League.

The Cavs should take away from their 67-58 loss that a great start to a game isn’t necessarily enough.

Lakeland played fluidly and confidently for the opening seven minutes and stormed out to a 23-3 lead. By halftime though, Warwick was back to within a point and the Peninsula District visitors held Lakeland’s offense in check and held the lead the second half.

The setback for the Cavs took away from an outstanding all-around game from guard Josh Beck. Beck led the Cavaliers’ opening run, draining five three-pointers in the first five-plus minutes with his fifth trey giving Lakeland a 19-3 lead. A coast-to-coast drive and lay-up by Shaquille Wilson made it 23-3.

While Beck was knocking down the long-range shots, Wilson was spurring Lakeland as well. Wilson ran the Cavalier offense, mainly by driving into the Warwick defense and finding Beck open on the perimeter.

From there though, Warwick outscored Lakeland 34-15 in the last 13:19 of the first half. As the contest moved on, Warwick’s height and size advantage became more and more evident on the glass. Warwick also turned up its defensive pressure, shutting down the crisp passing and good shooting which led to Lakeland’s big lead.

Beck finished with 33 points and seven steals; he had 22 points and six three-pointers in the first half. Wilson, Dwight Jefferson and Jaquon Beamon added six points each. Wilson also had six assists and four rebounds.

Following the Lakeland/Warwick game, King’s Fork had to play shorthanded against Hampton and the Crabbers prevailed 47-38.

With a number of Bulldogs out due to AAU basketball or Bulldog football practice, seven Bulldogs were on hand. Hampton got out to a 9-0 lead and wound up leading from wire to wire.

After Hampton’s dominant start, the Bulldogs played a mostly even game. After being down 29-16 at halftime, King’s Fork rallied early in the second half.

KF held Hampton to one made field goal in the first 10 minutes of the half and a three-pointer by Alvin Daughtrey brought KF within 32-29. The Bulldogs were still within three points a couple minutes later, but six straight points by the Crabbers proved to be the turning point.

Tre Francisco had 11 points, including three three-pointers. Fred Scott, despite giving up three or four inches to most of the Crabbers’ interior players, had 11 points and six rebounds for KF. Daughtrey added 10 points and three assists.

Thursday’s action finished the regular season for KF’s Summer League. The league tournament starts on Tuesday with the semifinals and final taking place Thursday evening at King’s Fork.