WHITE PINE – Three different Lions scored in double figures as Lakeway Christian Academy blew past Collegedale Academy 76-51 Tuesday night in the first round of the regional tournament.
Owen McGoldrick led LCA with 18 points, followed by 15 from Hudson Leathers and Ivan Moskalenko added 12 points. The Lions move to 22-9 and will face off against CAK in the regional semifinals in Chattanooga on Friday.
"I thought for the most part, we played well even though there are some areas we want to cleanup," Lions head coach Aaron Jones said of his team's performance. "At the beginning of the year, the scope of what you want to work on is fairly large but it slowly is trimmed down which is a good sign this time of year. Overall, I'm very happy for our guys as this clinches a state tournament appearance which is back-to-back for the first time in school history and third time making state in school history so we are excited for that part."
"Being able to throw three different people into double figures this time of year is really, really good for a lot of people," Jones said of his trifecta who scored at least 10 points against the Eagles. "That's a good thing about our locker room as on any given night, we are playing 10 guys and for the most part, any of those 10 could be in double figures or have been at one time this year."
The Lions established their presence early as Moskalenko scored the games' first six points and then McGoldrick got going from behind the arc. The Eagles were able to get their deficit down to six points early in the second period but then LCA reeled off 12 unanswered points to go up 37-15 on Moskalenko's dunk and three-pointer.
The Lions built a 41-24 lead in the first half. Leathers and McGoldrick opened the third period with consecutive threes and Leathers later made scored five straight points to get the lead to a commanding 61-27.
At that point, Jones was able to remove the starters with the game well in hand. In the fourth, the Eagles hit four shots from downtown but LCA still prevailed 76-51. The Lions hit 11 threes in the game.
The Lions' next opponent is a familiar one as they will play CAK for the fourth time this season.
"There are some things we have done well against them and there are things they had done well against us," Jones said. "When you play someone four times, both teams have a pretty good idea of what's going on and what the other is trying to do so we are excited for another great matchup. It's been a two-point game, a seven-point game and a six-point game and we went 2-1 against them."
