LATHROP — Midway through the fourth period Monday night, visiting East Union led Lathrop by 16 points and seemed to be in control of the Spartans.
Appearances can be deceiving.
Capped off by a Jesse Macharia 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining, Lathrop went on a 10-0 run to come within six points. The Lancers’ Dylan Lee added a pair of free throws to give East Union a 66-58 non-league boys basketball win.
“Those runs are not how you want to get out of the game,” East Union coach Charles Legan said. “I felt like we did a good job of building leads, but it seemed like every time we got up by 13, 14 or 15 points they would go on a run in transition.
“I thought that tonight was probably one of our poorest defensive games. We have some work to do, but we will take a win on the road on the Monday after the holidays. We just have to clean some stuff up on defense.”
That 10-0 run was not the only spurt of the night for the Spartans (3-6). Missing a core group of players, Lathrop closed out the third period on a 7-0 run as part of a 12-3 blitz to bring the Spartans within 50-45 at the start of the fourth quarter after trailing 45-28 early in the third quarter.
“It’s kind of difficult when you are short-handed,” Lathrop coach Charles Roth said. “We are short-handed right now due to injury, but our guys are competing, night in and night out.
“East Union is a good team. They had a lot of knock-down, easy 3-point shots but our guys are scrappy and they kept competing.”
Bryan Howe had the hot hand for the Lancers (10-3), leading all scorers with 21 points behind five 3-pointers.
“I like this gym for shooting,” Howe said. “We were just swinging the ball pretty well on offense getting open looks, finishing the ball pretty well. That was probably our best shooting night all season. Hopefully we can keep it up.
“Toward the end our defense got a little sloppy but that’s how it is sometimes – highs and lows.”
Lee (five rebounds, two steals) continued to have the hot hand with 18 points including a 5-for-5 outing at the free-throw line. Anthony Sy (10 points) had the only other free throw for East Union that shot just 6 for 10 from the line.
“When we go up big we have to learn how to keep the lead,” Lee said. “We have to learn how to win a little better.”
Luke Weaver (eight points) led the Lancers on the boards six rebounds.
Anthony McKinnon (five rebounds, steal) led Lathrop with 18 points. Samuel Stewart (six rebounds) added 13 points and Napolean Reeves chipped in nine points.
Tonight at 7, East Union hosts Franklin of Stockton, while Wednesday at 7 p.m. the Spartans host Kimball.
Junior varsity
Lathrop 50, East Union 30
The Spartans’ Renial Crisostomo led all scorers with 17 points.
Zach Grabowski paced the Lancers with 11 points.
