High School Boys Basketball:
Lenape Loses Its 2nd In A Row

Tuesday, December 22, 1998

By Steve Robbins
SJSports Student Correspondent

Coach Kevin Kelly's Lenape Indians (0-2) lost a hard fought battle to their rivals, the Shawnee Renegades (2-0), 49-60. Shawnee's much-hyped point guard, Sean Mulholland, played sparingly throughout the first half after an ankle injury that occurred early in the first quarter. However, with Shawnee's pressure defense and with Michael Medvedtz's outstanding play, they took an early lead and never looked back.

The game started out fast, with both teams getting numerous fast break opportunities, but only Shawnee capitalizing off of them. Lenape missed more chances to grab a hold of the lead by letting Shawnee get many offensive rebounds, most by Medvetz, who had 9 offensive boards for the game, along with 30 points. Shawnee's full court press stifled Lenape's two sophomore guards, Andrew Gentile and Vince Osario, thus leading to 10 first half turnovers and a 9 point deficit at the half.

The third quarter gave Lenape hope, with senior Chris Hall getting 3 steals and scoring 10 of his 17 points. Lenape also fed off of senior Craig Vogt's rebounding and outstanding defensive presence which helped cut the lead to 6 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was a different story for the Indians. Shawnee regrouped and showed why they are continuously one of the best teams in the state, by expanding the lead to 18 off of the smart play of senior guard Anthony Strachan who finished the game with 9 points. Lenape couldn't fight back, despite sinking three three-pointers.

After the game, Lenape players had different theories on why they lost. "Our problem was that we needed to make the game more up-tempo, and we couldn't against their defense," said Craig Vogt, who had 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Chris Hall had a different explanation, "Mulholland's injury made us change our plans on defense. We didn't make the adjustments we needed to."