Lapkowicz twins lead Mikes past Maples
Carmichaels’ Jeff Lapkowicz (12) looks for an outlet during Monday night’s first-round game in the annual King Coal Lions Club Christmas Tournament at Carmichaels. Lapkowicz’s teammate Matt Barnhart is on the left, and Mapletown’s Brad Hartley is behind him on the right. Lapkowicz was high scorer in the game with 21 points. CARMICHAELS – No matter what defense Mapletown showed Monday night, Carmichaels had an answer. Sit back in a zone defense and it’s Lapkowicz for three. Go man-to-man and Lapkowicz drives the lane for an easy lay up.
And by now everyone knows Lapkowicz in Carmichaels compounds a problem for opposing teams two-fold. Twin brothers Jared and Jeff Lapkowicz helped the host Mikes scorch Mapletown, 62-34, in the first round of the King Coal Lions Club Christmas Tournament.
Jeff Lapkowicz led all scorers with 21 points, as his first five field goals were from 3-point range. Jared Lapkowicz scattered his four 3-pointers around three baskets from inside the arc to finish with 18 points.
The difference in the game was simple.
“The Lapkowicz’ shooting,” said Mapletown coach Fred Morecraft. “They were hitting shots. We gave them a lot of open shots, but they were hitting shots when we had guys in their faces. They are just good ballplayers. They are experienced ballplayers and there were times we had freshmen guarding them. It’s hard to make up for that.”
Carmichaels coach Don Williams said Jeff has been shooting a little better than Jared, but five treys over four is a margin any coach can appreciate.
“Jeff and Jared were on,” Williams said. “They’ve been shooting well and whatever Mapletown was going to give we were going to take.”
Carmichaels (6-4) forced four Mapletown turnovers early in the game before Jared Lapkowicz sank his first 3-pointer in the waning moments of the first quarter to give the Mikes a 14-6 lead.
In the second quarter, Jeff Lapkowicz caught fire with three consecutive treys, which swelled Carmichaels lead from 21-10 to 30-14 by the end of the second quarter-the latter coming at the halftime buzzer.
Mapletown (0-9) tried to mix up its zone defenses in the first half to try to dictate the pace of the game, according to Morecraft, before having to run straight man-to-man by the second half. With a young team that caused some problems.
“There was some miscommunication,” Morecraft said. “Our inexperience lent to us not executing our game plan. We knew we had to play some man-to-man and when we did I think we got a little too tight on them because they were hitting the threes. We had to do a little bit of everything to just try and stay in the game.”
Carmichaels scored on five straight lay-ups within a three-minute span of the third quarter and never looked back after mounting a 49-25 lead.
“In the second half we started getting into a rhythm,” Williams said. “We stole the ball a couple times and we started running a little bit and got some easy baskets rather than working for them.”
Williams wasn’t happy with his team’s intensity after stressing before the game not to take bank on an easy victory over the winless Maples.
“We were a little flat coming out,” Williams said. “But once we got moving around we wanted to keep our intensity up and we wanted to play our game and not take them lightly.”
Mapletown’s offense struggled as much as its defense. Center Brad Hartley led the team with 14 points followed by Zach Cumberland and Travis Menear with eight and six, respectively. Point guard Jess Boord, playing in his first game since sustaining an injury in the season opener, returned to the lineup but was still ailing from his injury and only scored two points.
“Jesse didn’t score many points but he did a real nice job of running the point and that’s something we haven’t had,” Morecraft said. “Having Jesse on the court helps us get better shots and we had some open looks tonight. Some were just not falling.”
Carmichaels plays tonight in the championship game against Monday’s Beth-Center-Bentworth winner at 8 p.m., while Mapletown plays the loser in the consolation at 6 p.m. today.