Correspondent / Robert Hayes Poland’s Adam Kassem, right, puts up a shot over Brendon Kilpatrick, left, during the second half of their game in Cortland on Tuesday.
CORTLAND — There is a lot that can be learned during the grind of a long basketball season. Poland coach Ken Grisdale thinks that each game is like a lesson being taught to his team.
Coming off a tough two-point loss to Girard, Poland entered Tuesday night’s Northeast-8 Conference game at Lakeview trying to prove what it learned in the previous loss and learn more against the host Bulldogs.
Poland passed its latest test with a 60-48 win.
“Every game is a lesson,” Grisdale said. “I put on the board before games, exam number … today was number 17.
“We’re trying to find out something about ourselves, something that we can carry into the tournament because ultimately that’s what you’re preparing for.”
Correspondent / Robert Hayes Andrew Centofanti, left, surveys the court while Nate Fox, right, plays defense. Centofanti had 15 points for Poland.
The teams started off sluggish, with neither school being able to build a substantial lead. Ross Dedo had six points for Poland as it carried a 10-9 lead after the first eight minutes.
Things began to change in the second period as Poland used a 9-0 run in the middle portion. Brendon Kilpatrick nailed a pair of free throws for Lakeview’s first points of the quarter with 3:47 left before halftime.
Michael Cougras said the loss to Girard motivated his squad to bring more energy to their game.
“We came out a little lackadaisical (against Girard), and we did a little bit today, too,” he said. “We turned it up a lot better in the second half. We just started to have more energy. We wanted to try to speed the game up a little bit because it was kind of sluggish and slow. We felt if we got a few easy baskets, that would open up more shots.”
Lakeview tailed just 25-20 af halftime.
The host Bulldogs did trimmed the score to 35-31 during the third quarter, but that was as close as they got in the second half.
Lakeview dropped to 8-10 overall and 5-6 in the Northeast-8, but coach Ryan Fitch thinks his team learned some things, too.
“It does teach us a lesson that we can’t come out flat like that,” Fitch said. “If we would have come out with a little bit more enthusiasm, maybe we could have got a seven- or eight-point lead and then it totally changes the flow of the game.
“It would have put (Poland) in a little bit more high-pressure situations. We were in high-pressure situations all night, being down five, needing a big basket or being down six and needing a big stop on defense. When you try to make a run like that, you’ve got to put the other team in some high-pressure situations, and tonight, I think they did that to us more than we did it to them.”
Poland guard Andrew Centofanti said defense was the key.
“It teaches us that we’ve got to play sound defense,” Centofanti said. “Lakeview is a good shooting team and we got up in transition, got a few points, but we’ve just got to keep our motors going on defense. That relates to our offense.”
Poland moved to 11-6 overall and 8-3 in league action.
“We’ve had some ups and downs and I think we’re going to be a tough out once it’s tournament time,” Grisdale said. “Of our six losses, four of them have been by two points and under, so we’ve been in tight games and we just have to figure out how to finish them.”
Dedo had a team-high 16 points for Poland, along with Centofanti who scored 15, and Cougras with 14.
Nate Fox scored 18 points for Lakeview, and Kilpatrick added 16.
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