A pair of district playoff losses Feb. 22 and 24 heralded the end of the season for a senior-heavy Lakewood High School boys basketball team.
Despite snagging a coveted second-seed slot for the district tournament, the Cougars were ushered out the door with a 53-39 loss to Burlington-Edison and a heartbreaking 50-47 defeat two days later.
Saturday we had a really good high school basketball game against Bellingham. I dont think we ever played them before. It was a close game the whole way. We were up by one at halftime, we were up by six going into the fourth quarter, and they made a couple of big plays and we missed a couple big opportunities, Lakewood coach Ron Thorvilson said after the season-ending loss. We were down by three, had to get a three at the buzzer and we missed.
Seniors Sean Noteboom and John Loucks had strong performances for Lakewood in the first half, totaling 22 of the Cougars 24 points before halftime, but the two were held to a field goal each, and a free throw for Loucks. However as Noteboom and Loucks waned, senior forward Dan Borisov waxed with all of his 13 points coming in the second half, including three shots from beyond the arc.
Loucks also contributed 12 rebounds in the loss to Bellingham.
Streaking offensive runs and three-point baskets made the difference for Burlington-Edison in Lakewoods Feb. 22 home loss in the district tournament opener.
Borisov made all six of his shots from the charity stripe to lead the Cougars offensively with 11 points, but Lakewood couldnt hold a candle to B-E junior guard Kolby Arendses game-high 19 points.
We played last Thursday, we played Burlington-Edison last week. We played them real well. We lost 53-39. We basically had a tough time making shots. We played good defense and handled the ball well, Thorvilson said of the earlier match. Dan Borisov played a good game for us, he had 11 points. Loucks had 14 rebounds, 7 blocks and 7 points, so he had a great game.
We did everything except shoot the ball well, he said.
B-E outscored Lakewood in each period, with the second quarter particularly trying for the Cougars, averaging one made field goal per two minutes of play. A 12-2 run for the Tigers in the fourth period put the game away for B-E.
We pretty much were a senior-dominated team. Well have three players who lettered coming back, Thorvilson said of the end of Lakewoods season. It would have been nice to get a couple more games in, play at the state tournament. We competed, did pretty well, just not quite enough.


At Mount Vernon H.S.

Lakewood 11 13 11 12 47
Bellingham 10 13 16 21 50

Lakewood Boyce 2, Spencer 5, Borisov 13, S. Notebook 16, Loucks 11. Bellingham Carlson 4, Lehmann 9, Hartnell 8, Schuette 15, Wilcox 11. 3-point goals Borisov 3, S. Noteboom 4, Schuette 3, Wilcox 3. Records Lakewood 11-11, Bellingham 14-9.

At Lakewood H.S.

Lakewood 10 8 11 10 39
Burlington-Edison 12 12 13 16 53

Lakewood Boyce 6, Spencer 8, Borisov 11, S. Noteboom 5, K. Noteboom 2, Loucks 7. Burlington-Edison Clement 3, Stull 9, Stewart 5, Montgomery 2, Anderson 13, Arendse 19, Dillon 2. 3-point goals Stull 2, Anderson 2, Stewart 1, S. Clement 1 Borisov 1. Records B-E 17-5 overall, Lakewood 11-10.