Raider Blues: Lomega boys eliminated
Cyril gets hot at right time to earn 14-56 Class B quarterfinal win
HECTOR RIVERA makes a pass during Lomega’s Class B state quarterfinal loss to Cyril. Rivera scored two points and had four rebounds for the Raiders. [Photo by Chris Simon/www. simon-sports-photos.smugmug.corn]
From the start, it didn’t appear it would be Lomega’s day.
And it wasn’t.
The Raiders saw their season come to an end Wednesday as they fell prey to Cyril 74-56 in the Class B quarterfinals at State Fair Arena.
The ninth-ranked Pirates, who owned a twopoint win over Lomega earlier this season, scored the game’s first nine points.
Although Lomega answered with its own 7-0 run and got as close as one 11-10, Cyril had an answer for every Raider run.
“After the bad start we had, we just never were able to make it the kind of game we needed to as far as pace goes,” Lomega coach Justin Edsall said.
The Pirates led 17-12 after a quarter before Ryan Hart caught fire in the second.
The junior nailed four second-quarter treys as his team built a 39-24 halftime lead.
Lomega answered the third quarter bell with a 7-0 run, but yet another Hart trey was part of an 8-0 Pirate burst that pushed the lead to 47-31.
Cyril’s advantage was as big as 18 in the third before Noah Snowden and Riley Lumpkin buckets helped cut it to 11 entering the fourth.
Once there, the Raiders got within single digits, but never closer than nine points.
Lumpkin and Snowden scored 22 apiece for Lomega, but no other Raider reached double digits.
Snowden had a game-high 14 rebounds and Lumpkin 13 more in their final games as Raiders.
The team’s 22 offensive rebounds and 21 second-chance points helped the Raiders make runs at their deficit.
However, they couldn’t sustain them as they struggled from beyond the arc.
The Raiders were 6 of 32 from 3-point range and shot 31 percent overall.
“It was one of those days where we didn’t shoot it very well from 3 and they had someone who got hot,” Edsall said. “That was a tough combination to overcome, too.”
Hart made six 3-pointers overall and scored 20 points to lead four Pirates in double figures.
Lomega’s season ended with a 22-4 record.
It was Lomega’s first trip to state since 2012.
“I’m really proud of the team and the season we had,” said Edsall, who reached state for the first time as a head coach.
“It was a blessing just to get to play this year with this group.”