Defense lifts Bartlett to win over Lakes

Defense helped the Bartlett boys basketball team enter the Jacobs' Hinkle Holiday Classic with only one loss.

After watching their defense slip a bit and sending them into the Consolation B bracket, the Hawks found their defense again in the bracket's championship game against Lakes. Bartlett (11-3) forced 7 of the Eagles' 18 turnovers in the first quarter in building up a 14-6 lead, and the Hawks didn't look back in a 56-42 win on Saturday.

Leading the effort for Bartlett was senior all-tournament selection Ryan DiCanio (26 points, 6 rebounds), who scored the Hawks' first 11 points of the game. DiCanio noted that he'd been battling illness throughout the tournament, and he was averaging 14.5 points per game in the tournament.

"Today, I just felt really good," DiCanio said. "We've been struggling early in our games here, and I just wanted to provide a spark at the start."

The Hawks increased their lead to 27-15 by halftime thanks in part to Ben Reyes, who came off the bench and provided a 5-point second quarter.

Eagles senior Ethan Sage was also an all-tournament selection, and he entered the game coming off a 38-point performance the previous day and averaging 24 points per game mostly from the paint. Bartlett forced him to the outside for most of the game, and despite Sage (7 rebounds) hitting a pair of 3-pointers he was held to just 11 points.

"There was a big key on him," DiCanio said. "We scouted him and knew he wasn't as good of a shooter from outside. We wanted to keep him out there, and I thought we did a good job at that."

Colton Jewell opened the fourth quarter with a bucket to pull Lakes (5-9) to within 38-32, but the Hawks responded with a 10-0 run capped by a steal and layup by Tyler Pauletti for a 48-32 lead with 3:30 left to play. Lakes pulled no closer than 13 the rest of the game.

"I thought we really responded well against a good team," Hawks' coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "Our defense slipped a bit in that third quarter, but good teams will rally on you. We responded to their rally well."

Benett Haviland had 8 points and David Milostan 5 points and 6 rebounds for Lakes. Jason Hasenberg had a game-high 8 rebounds and Robby Jimenez added 7 for Bartlett, and Ben Johnson had 7 points off the bench for the Hawks.