Wednesday, December 30, 1998
Lake hangs on to defeat Calvert, 62-57
By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor
MILLBURY -- Twice in 32 years is not the stuff trends are made of, but it does make for an ironic storyline.
Lake basketball coach John Robinson has been around the basketball block a few times in his 32-year career, but Tuesday night he ended up right where he started -- with a victory over Calvert.
While at Port Clinton, Robinson posted his first coaching victory in 1966 against the Senecas. And now, at Lake High School, Robinson is on a roll and Calvert became his latest victim, 62-57.
The surprising Flyers remained unbeaten (5-0), while Calvert (3-1) suffered its first defeat of the young season.
Robinson, who came out of retirement to coach the Flyers, is having fun these days, but first he had to reminisce.
''That first one (in 1966) we trailed the whole game and tied it with 50 seconds left,'' Robinson remembered. ''We got a steal with 15 seconds left and called a timeout. I wanted to get a layup, but we had a kid who just transfered from Indiana and he didn't know the difference, so he took a shot from the top of the key, a 2-pointer in those days, and hit it and we won the game.''
Flash forward, to Tuesday night, when the Senecas were forced into the catch-up role.
And for awhile the part seemed to fit.
The Senecas trailed by 11 (55-44) with 2:30 remaining when Lake finally began to succumb to the Calvert pressure.
Eric Welty started the push by splitting a pair at the foul line with 2:11 left.
Joe Harvey (19 points) turned a steal off the inbound pass into a three-point play, and then buried a baseline 3-pointer off another Lake miscue to bring Calvert to within 57-51 with 1:56 remaining.
A minute later, with Lake leading 60-54, Dan Walter (16 points) grabbed a Harvey miss, dished to Matt Hammer who buried an open 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 60-57.
Back at the other end Lake's Joel Jackson missed a pair at the line, but Sal Sanchez scooped up the board, was fouled and sank two foul shots to seal it.
It was the perfect ending for Sanchez, who finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds.