Yes, it’s another Prairie Heights preview as I preview two games this week before we head into the final week of the regular season.
For the Lakeland Lakers (6-14), they’re coming off of a season-worst 6-game losing streak, which they ended last season with a 7-game skid, and they have lost 8 of their last 10 games. The Lakers are having their lowest offensive output (47.6) since 2014-15 when they averaged just 41.7 points a game. Lakeland is 4-4 when they score at least 50 points compare to 2-10 in other games. Lakers’ defense, however, has shown some improvement from last season as they’re 6-3 when they hold their opponents to under 50 points compare to their 0-11 record in their other games.
Lakeland’s bug-a-boo for the last 2 seasons has been their ability to close out games and turnovers. Since last season, Lakeland has posted a 5-15 record in games decided by 10 points or fewer. While the Panthers have a losing record in these games, it’s definitely not as bad as what Lakeland has went through.
For the Prairie Heights Panthers (15-5), they’re in a unique situation where they went 10-0 to start the year, then went 5-5 after that, but they now have an opportunity to close out the regular season on a high note as they do have a favorable schedule. Their final 3 games of the season are against teams that have a combined 11-44 record, which are the kind of games Heights has been winning all the time this season.
Now with all the heavyweight matchups pretty much out of the way before the state tournament, the Panthers would probably like to get back to getting on a winning streak, even though they started playing good basketball and playing good defense last night against CN despite the loss. The Panthers are 10-1 when they hold their opponents to less than 50 points, which their last 3 opponents have averaged below that number.
Lakeland leads the all time series 47-18 over Prairie Heights, but the Panthers have taken 7 of their last 11 meetings. Lakeland won @ Prairie Heights 52-50 in the 2017 NECC Tournament, but it’s been 8 years to the day since the Lakers last won in Brushy Prairie in the regular season (outside of tournament play). These two teams will play tomorrow night @ Brushy Prairie
3 Keys for Each Team to Win
Lakeland
1. Get off to a Good Start and limit turnovers
Lakeland has trailed at the half in each of their last 4 games, and I do think that has had an effect on a Lakeland team that is a bit younger than in previous seasons. Lakeland has trailed often in the first half of games, so getting off to a good start in games is definitely important for a younger Lakeland team. Turnovers are a big issue for this team, and if they’re going to hang around with their county neighbors, that must be the point of emphasis for this team is to not shoot themselves in the foot in unforced situations.
2. Got to improve on their perimeter defense
In the Central Noble game, what got Lakeland behind was the fact the defense did not do a great job on Central Noble’s guards which has contributed as one of the conference’s most prolific perimeter offenses especially in transition. In their last 4 games, they’ve allowed opposing teams to shoot at least 30% or better from the perimeter, and allow 3 of the last 4 opponents to shoot better than 50% from the 3. They’re going to come into this game facing a team that shoots over 40% from the 3 on the season and 55% from the field. That also was a struggle against a Northridge team that shot 52% from the field and nearly 40% from downtown.
3. Got to crash the glass and limit 2nd Chance opportunities
Given that Lakeland has played in a more slower paced style of basketball, the Lakers have to perform well at the glass, which has been mixed. Against Central Noble, Lakeland was only out rebounded 32-25. When they rebound the ball well, that tends to give Lakeland a better chance at games. There have been a couple games where rebounding has been one sided. In their last meeting against Heights, the Panthers out rebounded them 34-19 but only shot 20% from the perimeter.
Prairie Heights
1. Got to be patient
This is going to be a pretty difficult transition from their recent games especially in the Westview game because this Lakeland team plays a more patient style of basketball, but they’re very aggressive to the shooters. It’s a bit more like the Angola Hornets, but obviously not as stingy as that team either. This means that the Panthers must be smart with their decision making and their shot selection. While Heights hasn’t been prone to a lot of turnovers, Lakeland is the kind of team to get them off rhythm. Heights has only played in 3 games where they’ve failed to score 55 points as they’re 2-1 in these games, while Lakeland is only 3-11.
2. Defense! Defense!
Heights is in the direction of playing better defense based on their recent game @ CN. I’ll be honest with you, that was more credit on CN being resilient than anything else, but if the Panthers can have a complete game with that kind of effort and intensity as a whole, results will start to get better. The Panthers have struggled at times against teams that do shoot the ball well from distance, but not near as bad against sub .500 teams. However, this Lakeland team ain’t your ordinary sub .500 team. They don’t score a ton of points, but they do have their moments where they can shoot the ball well from deep. It strictly comes down to how well they defend the guard duo of Brady Bontrager and Bracey Shepherd as they’ve been two of the best guards obviously on this team but also in the NECC. If they can show better discipline, this is a game that goes to the Panthers’ favor.
3. Grind it out
This is a tough situation for the Panthers as they’re stuck playing 4 games in 8 days including 3 of those games this week. This will prepare Heights for the state tournament as they’ll have to do this same thing in sectionals as there are no days off there. The last time they had that many games in short amount of time, they had mixed results. They went to the NECC tourney title game but lost in that title game and then lost 3 nights later to Woodlan. One thing that is nice for Heights is that depth they have consists of work horses that get after it regardless of the outcome of the game, which helps the core guys a lot. So, for me, it doesn’t matter how pretty it is because they need the win more than anything else.
Players to watch
Lakeland
Brady Bontrager
I know it sounds like a ‘duh’ response, but he’s one of the best players in our area for a reason, and I think it’s safe to say that his play is going to determine how well Lakeland does against Heights’ explosive offense as well as their size on defense. Brady is averaging 16 points and 6.5 boards in the two games he’s played Heights. His brother had a history of going off on the Panthers as well. So that’s a name to watch.
Prairie Heights
Elijah Malone
For a lot of the obvious reasons, Elijah Malone is going to be an important piece for this game just like he’s been for the past couple seasons. But, against Lakeland, Malone has struggled a bit against this Lakers team. In the two seasons he’s played Lakeland, Malone is averaging 8 points 8 boards and 1.5 blocks. Those are not bad numbers, but that’s not how the Big Fella has been playing for the past 2 seasons. We expect him to have an impact. It’s a matter of to what extent will that impact be?
Conclusion: This is game that at this point of the season is kind of irrelevant in conference play, but it’s an intriguing matchup, and it’s a traditional LaGrange County rivalry game that we expect to be a decent one.
These two are only separated by 12 miles going onto highway 20. While this looks like a one sided matchup, it hasn’t been the case the last 2 seasons. We’re not sure if this game will wind up being a shootout or a classic defensive battle, but we do not expect this game to get out of hand for either team unless there’s too many mistakes.
Lakeland doesn’t get into a ton of shootouts. There’s only been one game where they’ve really been in a offensive shooting fest, and that’s when they lost by 40 to Churubusco and gave up 100. My gut tells me it’ll be a pretty low scoring game, and honestly Heights can play that style of ball to, especially if they defend the perimeter well. It’s not that Heights can’t play defense, it’s just they’ve struggled against teams that like to shoot the ball and shoot it from deep. Will be interesting to see how this one pans out.
With this marking one more week of regular season ball left, teams better start buckling down as we get to tournament action not too far from now.
Around the NorthEast Corner 