By Matthew Hatfield

Correspondent

For much of the Greyhound Tip-Off Classic held at Norcom High School in Portsmouth on Saturday, the Lakeland Cavaliers proved their worth as a basketball team on the rise. They led the Hampton Crabbers, a perennial contender in the Hampton Roads area that has won three state titles since 1989, by eight points with 2:12 to go.

However, Hampton scored 12 of the game’s final 15 points, stunning the Cavs 62-61 on a basket off an out of bounds play with 1.7 seconds remaining.

The loss halted a five-game winning streak for Lakeland, which moved up to ninth in the state rankings in Group 3A entering the contest.

“It was a great experience and a good environment playing a quality Hampton ball club. Going into the fourth quarter, I felt confident, but just a few little things cost us,” Lakeland head coach Clint Wright said. “Rebounds that we didn’t secure when we attempted to tap, free-throws we didn’t convert on, and it came down to lack of execution towards the end.”

Lakeland got off to a rousing start behind the hot shooting of senior guard Qurante Budd. On the day, he finished with a team-best 18 points on 6-of-11 from three-point territory, sinking three treys in the first half alone. In fact, the Cavs started 5-for-6 from long distance in building a 29-22 lead midway through the second quarter.

“I told our guys that I think we can play any style. We wanted to start off with a basic zone and offensively we simply made shots. We ran our offense,” Wright said.

Hampton was able to close the gap to 30-28 by halftime, thanks in large part due to the torrid shooting of junior guard Jalen Ray.

“I did not get an opportunity to scout them, but saw a few comments on Twitter about one of their scorers and quickly found out who he was,” Wright commented.

Ray finished with 32 points, 15 of them coming in the fourth quarter, and made all 10 of his free-throw attempts to spearhead the comeback effort. Every time Lakeland seemed to push their lead up to between six and eight points, he responded to keep the Crabbers within striking distance.

The Cavs were without the services of starter Jerry Goodman because of a knee bruise. His absence was magnified when Jamonte Ricks fouled out midway through the fourth quarter.

“We lost a little bit of stability with what Jerry brings. He basically knows all five positions very well,” Wright acknowledged.

“I thought Budd and Daquan Boyette did a great job of handling the point guard position for us, but I wonder what would’ve happened if Jerry actually played. Still, it’s not why we lost the game. We just failed to execute down the stretch.”

To go with Budd’s three-point shooting exploits, senior forward Deonta Knight tallied 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Xzaveious Brown was a presence defensively, blocking five shots.

Lakeland will be back in action at home on Jan. 5 against Southeastern District counterpart Indian River. The Cavs will take a 6-3 record into the New Year with aspirations of being a threat when the playoffs roll around.

“I think we’ll be a very relevant ball club going forward in 2016. The only thing I’ve got a salty taste about is not being able to play over the break. Our fans, supporters and the college students that come home, they were looking forward to seeing us play over the break. We’ll have to get into more of a training mode,” Wright noted.

“That being said, we are so optimistic and extremely excited about what the future holds. Even though we’ve got a difficult schedule, it’s one that I believe we can manage and be able to play quality basketball. The main thing is that we maintain our health and stamina.”