After three games La Salle finds itself with a 2-1 record with wins over Ponitz and Purcell and an overtime loss to Withrow. Coach Pat Goedde has been pleased with the progress.

Goedde said, "The good thing is our younger guys are playing well. The bad thing is because we are so young and have had some injuries we have turned the ball over way too much. We are averaging about 20 turnovers and we would like to be at about 10."

The Withrow Game

"In the Ponitz game we made shots. That is why the score was so lopsided. They were very talented. Against Withrow they were guarding us a little differently. They made our shots tougher. It was the 2nd game and they scouted us better. The pressure hurt us; being young makes it hard."

"Coming from the JV to the varsity, the speed of the game is so different. You might think a guy is open but he is not. The window closes so much." Withrow had a 6'11" center that was rated the 9th best player in the state, preseason. Pat said, "I don't think we defended him well enough to keep him off the glass. I don't think we boxed out well enough. Shots would go up and he would get the second chance points and still at the end of regulation the score was 42-42. You should win when the other team scores only 42 points."

In the last minute of regulation in the Withrow game La Salle had the ball with the score tied at 42. Pat explained, "We ran a play and had a wide open look but we didn't shoot it. We had every opportunity to win in regulation. We shot an open shot from the top of the key with about 3 seconds left and missed."

"In overtime, there were a couple of things. We missed Nate's [Vogelpohl] leadership. He was out with an injury. We had chances again. We just missed shots. I think we were 3/23. The inexperience really hurt us down the stretch. We were excited getting into overtime. We didn't calm down and finish the game. We got kind of selfish towards the end. We didn't run the plays right. We weren't disciplined." La Salle lost in overtime 48-44.

The Purcell Game

Purcell was picked to have a pretty good team this year. The score was tied at half, 25 all. La Salle jumped out to a 7-point lead at the end of the third quarter and held on to win 53-50.

Jay Lemons and Jeff Queen each had 13 points, followed by Mike Wergers with 8. La Salle shot 58% from the field, while the Cavaliers shot 50%. Purcell outrebounded La Salle 23-21. La Salle had 18 turnovers to Purcell's 11. Mike Wergers led all rebounders with 11. Nate Vogelpohl, a key player if the Lancers are going to be successful this season, again did not play because of an injury. It is hoped he will be back for the Alter game Tuesday.

Jeff Queen

Jeff has been a pleasant surprise this season. He scored 17 points in the Ponitz game and 13 against Purcell. At the time of publication, stats were not available on the Withrow Game.

Pat had this to say about Jeff, "He played on the reserves last year and is a junior this year. He has improved immensely. It is a combination of a couple of things. In the summertime he really bought in. Outside of what we were doing, he was doing more on his own. I think the weight room has totally changed his body."

"I think it's better for a kid playing on the freshmen and reserves before playing on the varsity. It just gives you confidence, knowing how to play the game. It helps you pick up the speed of the game. When you start jumping different levels I don't think the maturation level happens."

Next Game

The Lancers' next game is their first home game of the season against Kettering Alter on Tuesday.