Basketball Recap: Lakewood Makes It Three in a Row on the Road

Lakewood lost to Hartsville back in December of 2018, but they didn't allow them the same satisfaction on Friday. The Lakewood Gators came out on top against the Hartsville Red Foxes by a score of 73-60. The Gators pushed the score to 60-40 by the end of the third, a deficit the Red Foxes cut but never quite recovered from.

Lakewood had a senior duo take command as Pop Cato went 8 for 11 en route to 23 points and Darius Franklin dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Cato has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Cedric Cisse, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 11 points and three steals.

Despite the loss, Hartsville still got an impressive performance from Tristian Spann, who went 6 for 14 en route to 18 points and eight boards. Spann is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. Antuan Segars was another key player, putting up eight points.

Lakewood's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-8. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 33.6% in those games and 23% outside of them. As for Hartsville, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost seven of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-11 record this season.

Lakewood and Calhoun County will face off at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday without much rest having both just played. Lakewood is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 52.4 points per game this season. As for Hartsville, they will have a chance to keep the ball rolling against Hannah-Pamplico at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday following yesterday's win.