The Silver Lake High boys’ basketball team played a highly competitive bout against one of the top teams on the South Shore, but the first few minutes of the contest made all of the difference.
The Lakers fell to Whitman-Hanson on the road last Friday night, 70-58, after falling behind by double digits in the first five minutes of the game.
In the first quarter, the Lakers fell behind as the Panthers were sharp from field goal range. The Panthers scored 14 of the game’s first 15 points. The Lakers only score in that span was a free throw from junior Josh Gilbert. After that, however, the Lakers offense woke up and was highly competitive for the rest of the first half. Still, at the end of it, they trailed 39-22.
The Lakers got off to a strong start in the second half. Tyler Duggan sank a 3-pointer and Cam Danahy turned on a pair of free throws, putting the Lakers on a 5-0 run. After that, both sides were even in the third quarter, so the Lakers trailed 57-42 at the end of it.
Whitman-Hanson hit the first point of the fourth quarter and because they led by 17 with about seven and a half minutes left in the game, the Lakers did not have time to make a comeback.
Duggan scored a team-high 14 points for the Lakers while Josh Harvey finished second with ten points.
The Lakers showed that depth is one of their assets this season with nine different players scoring points in the contest.
With the loss, the Lakers fell to 0-2 on the season. Their next game is Wednesday, Dec. 27 against the Sandwich Blue Knights at home (7 p.m. start time). It will be the Lakers first non-Patriot League game of the season since Sandwich competes in the Atlantic Coast League.