Lefler, Voge aid Lightning victory

Rick Devereux

The Beatles sang they got by with a little help from their friends.

The Sage Hill School boys basketball team, powered by Matt Loper and

Jamie McGee for much of the season, got past visiting Oxford Academy,

49-35, with a little help from Tim Lefler and Mike Voge in the

Academy League opener Friday.

With the Patriots focused on stopping Loper and McGee, Lefler and

Voge were the offensive sparks to start the game, scoring nine of

Sage’s first 11 points.

Lefler, a 6-foot junior, was the main catalyst driving the

baseline, finishing fast breaks and hitting turn-around jump shots to

give the Lightning an 11-5 advantage.

“Tim was sick and didn’t practice [Thursday],” Coach Steve Keith

said. “We didn’t even know if he was going to play in the game. For

him to come out right from the start like that was huge.”

Oxford (7-8, 0-1 in league) only made one field goal in the first

quarter, a three-pointer by Jorge Barboza, one of a game-high four

long bombs for the senior.

With Oxford’s defense now having to pay attention to Lefler, Loper

was able to get better looks at the basket. The lanes were loosened

by Lefler’s hot hand, allowing Loper to drive and draw fouls. The 6-3

Loper scored a game-high 22 points, six coming from the free-throw

line.

The game was slowed by 37 fouls. Oxford connected on 11 of 19 from

the foul line (58%), while Sage was 9 of 23 for 39%.

“It was a physical game,” Keith said. “You kind of expected the

league opener to be that way. I think the fouls took both offenses

out of rhythm.”

Sage was able to keep a rhythm thanks to Loper, who registered 11

straight points for the Lightning from midway through the second

quarter to midway through the third to give the hosts a 29-20 lead.

Sage stepped up the defensive intensity to start the fourth

quarter, not allowing the Patriots to score for more than four

minutes to go on an 8-0 run to create a 44-29 spread.

“We became reinvigorated on defense [to start the fourth

quarter],”Keith said. “We made a decision to not let them have a good

look at the basket.”

A crucial point in that run came when Voge scored back-to-back

buckets for the Lightning off offensive rebounds, which seemed to

take the life out of Oxford.

“Those baskets were double value because it was a non-scorer

creating points for us,” Keith said. “He turned a negative into a

positive by grabbing a missed shot and putting back the layin.”

Voge finished with a season-high 11 points.

The win pushed Sage to 14-3, 1-0 in league.

“I like the way that sounds,” Keith said of the Lightning record.

Sage continues Academy League action when it travels to Brethren

Christian Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Academy League

Sage Hill 49,

Oxford Academy 35

Score by Quarters

*--*

Oxford Academy 5 9 15 6 -- 35

Sage Hill 13 10 13 13 -- 49

*--*

Oxford - Hunt 7, Barboza 20, Dang 2, Jubran 3, Hosseninzadeh 2, De

Los Reyes 1.

3-pt. goals - Barboza 4.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Sage - Lefler 6, Loper 22, McGee 4, Voge 11, Hancock 2, Ogron 4,

Wee 0, Webster 0, Samel 0, Rose 0, Morgan 0.

3-pt. goals - McGee 1, Ogron 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.