LIMA — Lima Senior didn’t get a second chance in a 71-53 boys basketball loss to Oak Park (Mich.) in the Kewpee Classic on Friday night.
Oak Park — the first Michigan team ever to appear on Lima Senior’s schedule — jumped out to a 19-point lead after one quarter and the Spartans never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
“The first quarter was very much the difference. We never recovered,” Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson said.
“All the turnovers, all the transition opportunities (for Oak Park), we just never recovered from that. From then on it was just kind of helter skelter and we had to do some things we probably didn’t want to. But we had to take some chances to try to get back in the game.”
Oak Park hit 11 of 15 shots and forced seven Lima Senior turnovers in the game’s first eight minutes to take a 27-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Knights were up 37-23 at halftime, saw that lead dip to 11 points at 45-34 late in the third quarter, then pulled away late.
Jarius Ward led Lima Senior with 22 points but the Spartans struggled overall on offense. Ward was the only Spartan to score more than seven points. They connected on 21 of 60 field goal attempts (35 percent).
Four of Oak Park’s starters scored in double figures, led by Messiah Alford with 17 points. Robert Zanders and Rodrick Gillson had 14 points and Bobby Thompson Jr. scored 12 points.
Oak Park shot 26 of 49 on field goals (53 percent) and had a 33-25 rebounding edge.
Lima Senior played without 6-foot, 8-inch post player Keaton Upshaw, who suffered a high ankle sprain in a win over Toledo St. John’s on Tuesday night.
“He’s down for about for four or five weeks,” Simpson said. “We’re going to take our time with it. We’re not going to try to rush him back. We want him for the long haul.”
Lima Senior will play New Love Christian Academy in tonight’s second game in the Kewpee Classic. New Love won 96-72 over Dayton Ponitz on Friday night.
Wilmington will play Ponitz in the first game. Wilmington was Lima Senior’s opponent in the semifinals of the Division I boys basketball tournament in March.
