Lakeland wins on senior night

It was a fitting sendoff for Lakeland’s seniors — Luke Lulanaj (10 points, 6 rebounds), Anthony D’Errico (2 points), Joe LaPeruta, Aadi Sandhu (2 points), CC Savastano and Ethan Pomerantz — as the Hornets earned a 56-47 victory over visiting Putnam Valley on Feb. 12.

“It’s huge,” said Lakeland coach Shawn Sullivan of the senior-night win. “The six of them have been nothing but a pleasure to coach the last two years. They bring energy, excitement and they really put the team first, which I really appreciate, and to let (five of) them start in the first quarter when we tied (7-7) Putnam Valley and a number of them played again during the game, it ends up being a great day for the program.”

While it was senior night, it was a sophomore Mateo Lugo, that led Lakeland with 18 points, propelling it to its sixth win in its last seven games.

“This is my first year on varsity, so they’ve (the seniors) taught me a lot in practice and during the games,” Lugo said. “It’s a lot of fun playing with them. I am glad we got the win for our seniors.”

Lugo converted a lay-up to end the scoring in the opening half, giving the Hornets a 19-14 halftime lead.

“I knew I had to seize the opportunity, so I just tried to get us a quick bucket before halftime, to give us some momentum going into the second half,” Lugo said.

The second half saw Lakeland almost double its first-half output, scoring 37 points after halftime.

“We kind of changed the sets that we were calling, because Putnam Valley was doing an outstanding job defensively, so we tried to take advantage of our driving and kicking game,” Sullivan said. “We made a lot of threes or got to the rim. The credit is all to the players because they were the ones able to beat their players or knock down open threes.”

Toward the latter half of the third quarter, Lugo was fouled on a 3-point attempt, and responded by making 2 of 3 foul shots, putting Lakeland up 33-25.

“I just knew I had to make those, knock them down,” Lugo said. “I missed the first one, so I had to come back and get the next two.”

After a Putnam Valley field goal, Lakeland responded with a trey from Pat Gibson (5 points), giving the Hornets a 36-27 advantage.

“Pat is great,” Sullivan said. “He’s one of our best free-throw shooters, he’s a good 3-point shooter, he brings the team such energy that I try, whenever I can, when we are in a little bit of a lull, to put him in. He sparks the team for a two- or three-minute stretch every time he goes in.”

A Putnam Valley hoop and two free throws by Lugo ended the scoring in the third stanza, giving Lakeland a 38-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.

With the Hornets in the front court, Sullivan called a timeout and after it, Louis Murray (2 points, 7 rebounds) came up with a huge layup that gave Lakeland a 44-35 advantage with 3:07 left in the game.

“We called a timeout because we were under a lot of pressure and I didn’t want to lose the possession,” Sullivan said. “I think Putnam Valley was mixed up and Louis just happened to be under the basket and we found him.”

Lugo came up with his third 3-pointer of the game with less than two minutes remaining, giving Lakeland a 49-37 lead and it held on from there.

“Both teams were going at it. There was a lot of talk, and it just felt good to shut them up,” Lugo said.

Mike Lucia (7 points, 5 assists), Anthony Ray (7 points), and Aidan Leonard (3 points) contributed to the Hornets’ victory as well.

Lakeland also defeated visiting John Jay-Cross River 63-53 on Feb. 10, led by Lugo (25 points), Ray (16 points), Lulanaj (8 points, 6 rebounds), Lucia (6 points, 6 assists), Gibson (3 points), Murray (2 points, 8 rebounds), Sandhu (2 points), and D’Errico (1 point).

The Hornets (13-7) finished their regular season with a 48-37 victory at Brewster on Feb. 14, with Lugo (21 points), Lucia (8 points, 5 assists), Leonard (6 rebounds) and Murray (6 rebounds) doing the damage for Lakeland.

The seeding meeting for the Section 1 Class AA Tournament is scheduled for Tuesday.

Lakeland will next play in the opening round of the Section 1 Class AA Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 21.