Lawrence stays hot, beats Hewlett

Like it did in the Conference A-II boys’ basketball conference opener five weeks ago, Lawrence bolted to a large first-half advantage against Hewlett last Friday evening. Only this time, the Golden Tornadoes maintained their frantic pace and led throughout.

Sophomore Eddie Robinson had a triple-double—20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists—and sophomore Clifton Lyerly added 18 points and seven rebounds to lead Lawrence to a 76-54 home victory. It was the seventh win in eight games for the Golden Tornadoes (5-2 in conference play, 9-3 overall) since they lost in double OT at Hewlett on Dec. 17. The Bulldogs (3-4, 5-5), who played without freshman Avery Feldman (27 points and 20 rebounds in first meeting), got a game-high 27 points from sophomore Weldon Irvine.

“Losing to them the first time put a bad taste in our mouths,” said Robinson, who had 10 points in the third quarter as Lawrence extended a 16-point halftime cushion to 29. “We’ve been on a roll ever since that loss.”

It was all Golden Tornadoes after Hewlett grabbed an early 9-8 lead on a nifty give-and-go between Irvine and senior Jake Siegel. Lawrence scored all but two of the next 18 points, with six different players hitting shots, and led 24-11 after senior Samson Bialastok opened the second quarter with a short jumper.

“We play in spurts, and when we put spurts together we’re really dangerous,” Golden Tornadoes coach Pete Linderman said. “We’re on a nice little run right now, but we’ve got more big games ahead.”

The Bulldogs, who hadn’t allowed more than 18 first-half points in three straight games and were fresh off a 56-38 win over Lynbrook, played at Lawrence’s preferred tempo and found themselves down 42-26 at intermission. “The pace was exactly what they wanted and exactly what we didn’t want,” Hewlett coach Bill Dubin said. “You can’t give up five-on-three fast breaks and expect to be successful. We talked about making them play a half-court game, but we didn’t carry out the game plan.”