Gatewood boys basketball dropped its first region game 69-66 last Tuesday at Westminster Christian Academy in Watkinsville but rebounded nicely at home on Friday with a 54-47 victory over Piedmont Academy.
Going into the GIAA Region 2-AA matchup against Westminster, the Lions were 2-16 overall on the season and 0-2 in league play. However, they pulled off a stunning upset over Class AA’s No. 4 Gators.
“It’s crazy that Westminster beat us. But they played so hard. They came to play, and we didn’t,” Gatewood head coach Don Keiser admitted. “We’ve got to guard a little differently and watch film from that game.”
Despite being the overall better team, Gatewood struggled out of the gate. The Lions fired on all cylinders from the opening tip-off to the final whistle in order to get the victory.
Though not playing their usual fast-paced, high-scoring game, the Gators were still in it at the end. They just couldn’t recover after the Lions broke open the contest in the second quarter.
After being tied 10-10 at the end of the first, WCA outscored Gatewood 19-11 in the second. The Gators couldn’t seem to stop Lions’ power forward Mark Smith inside the paint.
Keiser said that after some halftime adjustments, his team was able to slow Smith down.
“What we did to their big man in the second half helped us,” he said. “But their coach did a good job of beating our press, which we score a lot of points off.”
Gatewood’s leading scorer, Matt Allen, had a big second half but it wasn’t enough in the end.
The Lions had several players contributing down the stretch, and despite the Gators scoring 29 points to WCA’s 21 in the final quarter, they were able to squeak by.
Keiser also lamented his team’s overall poor shooting performance.
“We didn’t hit our shots. We’re a very heavy 3-point shooting team, and when we’re off, we’re off,” Keiser said. “We’ve been off lately, and we were really on before Christmas. So, we’re going to do a lot of shooting in practice this week in hopes of getting back on track.”
Allen scored a game-high 25 points in the loss, while Jackson Morris totaled 12 points, Kaden Keiser also had 12 and Walker Roberts added six points.
Gatewood (16-4, 3-1) did rebound on Friday with its 54-47 victory over Piedmont Academy.
Allen, who’s averaging over 20 points a game through the last two weeks, again led the Gators and scored 29 against the Cougars, while Morris added 11 points.
Gatewood dominated the glass as Blake Callaway collected a team-high 14 rebounds while scoring six points. Keiser also contributed with four points, seven assists and nine boards.
Keiser said he’s learned a lot about his squad since the beginning of the season but acknowledged the team has been in a rut lately. He hopes his players can fix some things before the start of state playoffs.
“I think we learned that we’re vulnerable if we don’t come out and do everything right from the start,” the coach said. “I think the loss (to Westminster) was a good wake-up call, though.”
On the other hand, Keiser said he was happy to get the season sweep over the Cougars out of the way.
Next up is a 7:30 p.m. rematch at home against Westminster on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Sandersville Friday night to close out the regular season against Brentwood, who the Gators defeated 63-52 at the end of January.
“We need to win both this week and we win the region (title),” Keiser said. “It’s in our hands.”