By Spencer Spilman

The Lehman Lobos basketball team hosted non-district opponent McCallum Tuesday night in the Lobo Den. While the Lehman defense did its job slowing down the Knights offense, it was their own offense that let them down

in the end. McCallum held the lead all game and they won by double-digits, 51-41.

Lehman started out the game by falling into a 0-11 hole. It was the Knights combo of their three starting guards that applied pressure on the offensive end. McCallum’s Harrison Brown, Michael Watson, and Jesse Levy-Rubinett combined for 42 of the teams’ 51 points in the game.

The Lobos were able to battle back near the end of the first quarter, as Jay Sayles and Robert Salinas provided a much-needed spark off the bench. Both players filled up the stat sheet across the board, and helped bring Lehman within four points at the end of the first, 9-13.

Both teams started to roll offensively in the second quarter. Lehman proved to be more balanced than the Knights, getting points from eight different players throughout the game. McCallum on the other hand, had only five players that scored all game, and four of those were starters. Behind Brown’s 19 points and Levy-Rubinett’s 13, the Knights opened up a 30-24 lead going into halftime.

Lehman and McCallum found themselves in foul trouble throughout the game, as the officials called the game tight on both ends of the court. Lehman big-man Ivan Melendez was able to grab seven rebounds and add six points for the Lobos before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

No matter how close Lehman got, it seemed McCallum had an answer every time. While neither team scored much in the third, the Knights were able to increase the lead to seven at 37-30.

Lehman’s defense kept them in the game from start to finish, and the Lobos pulled to within just a few points of the Knights in the fourth quarter.

Jamiah Windom, along with Sayles and Salinas, combined for nine steals and 18 rebounds off the bench.

“We just listened to our coach and everything he told us to do, we did,” Sayles said.

However, Lehman head coach Thomas Acker was disappointed in his team’s inability to score points when they needed to.

“We didn’t score enough points. We need to figure out how to put the ball in the basket,” said Acker. However, he also said “Defensively, I felt we played good enough to win the game.”

It wasn’t enough in the end as the Knights’ starters outscored and outrebounded the Lobos for the win.

Sayles said that was the biggest reason they weren’t able to fight back in the game.

“They rebounded. They rebounded a lot,” he said.