Goodrich routs Lake Fenton to clinch third consecutive GAC Red title

Bill Marshall | The Flint Journal, February 25, 2009 12:53 a.m.

LINDEN -- Lake Fenton had only a single blemish on its league resume heading into Tuesday's showdown with Goodrich. It was a 56-43 loss Feb. 6 against the Martians who remained undefeated in the Genesee Area Conference Red Division heading into the penultimate league match. 

This time, Lake Fenton had an opportunity to avenge the loss and shoot for a share of the league title at home against a Goodrich team that had won it the previous two seasons. But the Martians' wire-to-wire 59-45 win left little doubt who was the conference's premier basketball team for the third straight season. 

Credit Goodrich's stifling defense for keeping the Warriors out of sync offensively for much of the contest. When coupled with early foul trouble for Dequan Horn, the odds were stacked against the host Warriors.

 "We got Horn in foul trouble and it was huge when we got the fourth one on him," said Goodrich Coach Dave Barnes. "He's a very fine player and can score a lot of points."

Horn consequently did little damage, scoring just five points on the night for a team that needed all the offensive help it could get.

"Our defense has been our salvation all year," Barnes said. "When our shots aren't falling we can run off our defense and it makes us a better team."

The Martians' defensive attack was led by senior guard Bobby Short who was five-for-five shooting on five steals for 10 points on the night. 

"They just let me run around and have fun, play the passing lanes and mess with everybody," Short said. 

Goodrich (15-2, 9-0 GAC Red) had 18 steals as a team that led to innumerable transition buckets, while Lake Fenton (11-6, 7-2 GAC Red) had to earn its points the hard way.  

"Defensively, we made some adjustments at halftime and in the third quarter we got after it pretty good," Barnes added. "It's a lot easier to make layups than it is jump shots."

Guard/forward Andrew Patrick mirrored Short's output with 10 points and five steals of his own, while four other Martians chipped in seven points apiece. Parker Scott scored 15 points and Joe Booker added 10 for a Lake Fenton team that shot 15-for-42 from the floor and turned the ball over 28 times.   

"Once you give it up 45-feet out, you have no chance to play D," said Warriors' Coach Matt Furey, "Their points off turnovers was the difference in the game. We did a good job of creating, but they do a good job of helping out and covering up as well. And once we lost Dequan early on in the first half, we lost a lot of firepower."

Goodrich 59 — Caleb Jones 1 1-2 3, Andrew Patrick 4 2-3 10, Nathaniel Landsgaard 2 3-4 7, Luc Hildebrand 1 0-0 2, Nathan Bila 0 0-0 0, Bobby Short 5 0-0 10, Trevor Lucas 2 0-0 5, Torey Laferney 3 0-3 7, Derek Warner 3 0-0 7, Carter Goetz 3 1-2 7, Lazar Assoofi 0 0-0 0, Benjamin Eikey 0 1-2 1. Totals 24 8-16 59.

Lake Fenton 45 — Marc Mora 0 1-2 1, Mitch Kirk 0 0-0 0, Kal Krueger 0 0-0 0, Parker Scott 5 3-3 15, Dequan Horn 2 0-0 5, Sean Canning 3 0-0 7, Joe Booker 2 4-4 10, Spencer Quick 1 0-0 2, Billy Caraway 2 1-2 7, Jordan Sides 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 9-11 45.

3-point goals — Goodrich 3: Lucas, Laferney, Warner. Lake Fenton 6: Horn, Canning, Booker 2, Caraway 2. 

Goodrich      15 13 16 15 — 59

Lake Fenton 8  13   9  15 — 45