Foreman escapes Lane’s pesky zone ‘D’

Foreman coach Terry Head knew at some point this season his squad’s unblemished conference record was going to be tested.

Rickey White’s basket with 42.9 seconds left gave the Hornets a one-point lead and would prove to be the game-winner in a 34-29 victory over Red-North rival Lane.

“It feels really good to be able to put my team out in front,” White said. “This was a game we expected and I think our intensity in the end paid off.”

It didn’t always seem as if the Hornets (14-1, 7-0) would need White’s heroics, however. After taking notable 9-0 and 19-11 leads early, Foreman looked as if it would ease to a victory. But Lane’s wide 1-3-1 zone defense started to fluster the hosts.

After cutting the 19-11 lead to 19-15 at the half, Lane (10-8, 4-3) allowed just four points the entire third quarter, closing the gap to 24-21 after three periods despite knocking down only one basket of its own and committing seven turnovers in the process.

After Julian Bil’s two free throws with 1:14 put Lane up for the first time at 29-28, White came to the rescue, hitting what would end up being the game-winner in the lane. White managed to score on a put-back 24 seconds later to make it a three-point game.

The end did not come without controversy however. A traveling call on Lane wiped out a game-tying three-pointer with just over 12 seconds remaining. Terrance Overton then knocked down two free throws to ice the game.

White scored 10 points to lead Foreman, while Overton added eight. Sadzid Grahic had nine points for Lane and Davielle Phillips added six.

“This group of kids, they’ve never had to deal with being undefeated,” Head said. “They needed that game to see that they have to keep coming out with that intensity. We didn’t play our game today, we play way better than we did.”