‘Complete game’ leads Lanesville by Orleans

Lanesville jumped ahead early and carried the momentum to a key 64-59 victory Saturday in boys’ basketball at Class A No. 10 Orleans.
‘That was a good complete game for us,’ Lanesville coach Mikel Miller said.
The win was the first over the Bulldogs since a 2007 thriller in the Class A Regional semi-final.
‘Early on, we did a good job of getting the ball inside and getting offensive rebounds,’ Miller said. ‘Kevin (Zollman) and Justin (Miller) had about 10 points between them in the first quarter and many came off offensive rebounds.’
Both would eventually reach double-digit scoring, with Miller finishing with 13 and Zollman 12. Both had nine rebounds.
Lanesville’s early momentum led to a 19-13 advantage after the first quarter. The Eagles would trail at the half, 30-28, but a key start to the third quarter pressed the Eagles ahead.
In the third, Lanesville outscored the Bulldogs, 19-11, and used energy from a Zollman dunk to gain steam.
‘That dunk was over the top of a player,’ the Lanesville coach said. ‘It really kept Kevin’s energy up. It kept our kids and fans we had behind us energized.’
Playing steady the entire night was leading scorer Jack Ferree, who had 17 points and four assists.
‘The last few games, Jack has been playing up to the ability he knows he is capable of doing,’ coach Miller said. ‘He missed one field goal and had four assists and several rebounds. He really played under control.’
Defensively, Miller said his team’s approach was the mixed-up looks. During the flow of the game, the Eagles switched defenses several times to keep Orleans off balance.
‘They are a team that lives at the line,’ Miller said of his squad. ‘They only got there 10 times, so I didn’t feel like they had an advantage there.’
Cale Hall paced Orleans in scoring with 20 points.
Lanesville (9-4) is on quite a run, winning 8 of 9 games, the lone loss coming to previous Class A No. 1 Loogootee.
‘We’ve gotten wins lately against quality teams,’ Miller said. ‘A win like Saturday’s gives the kids some validation that they need. It’s why they practice and work hard. Getting that kind of validation goes a long way.’
The trip to Orleans was the start of four consecutive road contests. The Eagles will head across the county Friday to play at North Harrison at 7:30 p.m.