Improved play in the second half led Robinson High School’s boys’ basketball team to an important win Tuesday night and gave the Maroons some momentum heading into conference tournament play this weekend.
The Maroons pulled away from visiting Lawrenceville for a 59-42 win in a Little Illini Conference contest and a preview of a quarterfinal matchup in the LIC Tournament on Saturday.
Improved play in the second half led Robinson High School’s boys’ basketball team to an important win Tuesday night and gave the Maroons some momentum heading into conference tournament play this weekend.
The Maroons pulled away from visiting Lawrenceville for a 59-42 win in a Little Illini Conference contest and a preview of a quarterfinal matchup in the LIC Tournament on Saturday.
“We did a better job defensively in the second half of limiting them to one shot and we finished around the basket better in the second half,” RHS head coach Mack Thompson said. “We were also more aggressive offensively and we rebounded well and used our length to our advantage.”
While the Maroons played better in the second half, they didn’t exactly play bad in the first half, as they led for a good majority of the first two periods.
Both teams had to feel each other out in the beginning, which led to neither team scoring for over two minutes to start the game. Noah Gilmore changed that at the 5:48 mark, as he got free inside for a slam dunk to give the Maroons a 2-0 lead. The score would be tied at 2-2 and 4-4, then Robinson took a 6-4 lead before Lawrenceville forged back ahead, 7-6. The lead would see-saw back-and-forth until a free throw by Gilmore tied the score at 9-9, then Owen Schmidt followed with a three-pointer and Nate Wernz scored to give RHS a 14-9 lead and they would hold a 14-12 edge at the end of the opening period.
Back-to-back threes by Lawrenceville to start the second quarter gave the Indians an 18-14 lead, but a three-point play from Judson Pinkston and a layup by Cooper Loll put the Maroons back in front, 19-18, with 4:59 left in the first half. After Lawrenceville scored to regain the lead, Loll drained a three-pointer to put RHS up 22-20 with 3:18 to play. Lawrenceville came back with a three of their own to regain the lead, but Loll hit another three to give Robinson a 25-23 lead at the 2:27 mark and the Maroons would hold a 26-25 lead at halftime.
A basket by Wernz and a three from Loll pushed the RHS lead to 31-25 less than a minute into the third quarter, then after a three by Lawrenceville, the Maroons ripped off seven in a row on a layup by Loll, a dunk from Gilmore and three-pointer by Schmidt to take their biggest lead of the game, 38-28, with 3:34 left.
After another three by Lawrenceville, Robinson scored the final seven points of the period to take 45-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Maroons continued to keep Lawrenceville at bay in the fourth quarter, as the Indians did not get any closer than 11 in the final period, while the final margin was the largest of the game.
While the Maroons didn’t exactly blister the nets shooting the ball, it was plenty good enough thanks to their effort on the defensive end. Robinson made 22-51 field goal attempts (43 percent), including 16-35 from two-point range (46 percent) and 6-16 from three-point range (38 percent), while Lawrenceville made just 15-52 shots from the floor (29 percent), which included a 7-26 showing from inside the arc (27 percent) and an 8-26 effort from long distance (31 percent). The Maroons also nearly doubled up the Indians on the glass as well, as they held a 42-22 rebounding advantage.
Loll led RHS with 23 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots and one steal, while Gilmore posted 17 points, six rebounds and one assist. Schmidt contributed nine points, three rebounds and two assists, Wernz recorded four points, seven rebounds and one steal, Pinkston totaled four points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist and Daniel Sparks tallied two points.
Maddox Pargin led Lawrenceville with 23 points, three rebounds, two steals, two assists and one blocked shot, while Bryant Jenkins posted 10 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“This was a good team win against a quality conference opponent,” Thompson said. “Now we have to try to go do it again on Saturday.”
Robinson also rolled to a 52-30 win in the junior varsity game.
Sparks led RHS with 20 points, while Duke Thompson was also in double figures with 12 points.
Robinson (12-8, 2-3 LIC) will play Lawrenceville in the quarterfinals of the LIC Tournament Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Olney.
At Robinson
Lawrenceville 12 13 6 11 - 42
Robinson 14 12 19 14 - 59
LAWRENCEVILLE (42)
Parker Hardiman 1-3 0-2 0-0 2, Landon Sanders 0-4 1-6 0-0 3, Leyton Ivers 2-5 0-0 0-0 4, Wyatt Halter 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Jayden Goff 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Zander Cessna 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Worstell 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Daugherty 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Bryant Jenkins 2-6 2-6 0-0 10, Maddox Pargin 2-8 5-9 4-4 23, Emery Ivers 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS 7-26 2FG, 8-26 3FG, 4-4 FT, 42 TP.
ROBINSON (59)
Cooper Loll 5-10 3-8 4-5 23, Duke Thompson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Judson Pinkston 1-3 0-1 2-3 4, Luke Wernz 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Owen Schmidt 0-1 3-5 0-0 9, Donnie Tillman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Wernz 2-6 0-0 0-0 4, Noah Gilmore 7-9 0-0 3-4 17, Korbin Rawlings 0-3 0-0 0-0 0, Daniel Sparks 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Aidan Parker 0-2 0-2 0-0 0, Chayse Aldrich 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS 16-35 2FG, 6-16 3FG, 9-12 FT, 59 TP.
Turnovers - LHS 9, RHS 12. Team fouls - LHS 10, RHS 11. Fouled out - none. Technical foul - none. Rebounds - (LHS 22) Jenkins 8, L. Ivers 6, Sanders 4, Pargin 3, Hardiman. (RHS 42) Loll 14, N. Wernz 7, Gilmore 6, Parker 4, Pinkston 4, Schmidt 3, Rawlings 3, Tillman. Steals - (LHS 9) Hardiman 3, Jenkins 2, Pargin 2, Sanders, L. Ivers. (RHS 5) Pinkston 2, Loll, Thompson, N. Wernz. Assists - (LHS 10) Jenkins 4, Pargin 2, L. Ivers 2, Sanders, Hardiman. (RHS 13) Loll 4, Parker 3, Schmidt 2, Pinkston, Gilmore, L. Wernz, Tillman. Blocked shots - (LHS 4) Jenkins 2, Pargin, Hardiman. (RHS 2) Loll 2.
Junior Varsity
Lawrenceville 15 4 7 4 - 30
Robinson 12 15 11 14 - 52
Highlights - (RHS) Chayse Aldrich 3 points; Duke Thompson 12 points; Luke Wernz 6 points; Aiden Maxwell 7 points; Daniel Sparks 20 points; Marcus Nantz 2 points; Jackson Goble 2 points.