Lausanne defeats Harding Academy on Senior Night

<p>Lausanne made sure <strong>Luke Howard</strong> wouldn’t have a big night offensively, and <strong>Sky Forest</strong> made sure Harding Academy wouldn’t ruin his final home game as a member of the Lynx.</p> <p>The senior combo guard had his way with the smaller guards of the Lions, making his way to a 26-point performance in Lausanne’s 62-57 win over Harding Academy Thursday night.</p> <p>Forest scored six of his team’s 10 points in the fourth quarter while the Lions made a late surge after being down by 12 early in the third quarter.</p> <p>During Forest’s scoring route, his teammates made sure Howard didn’t get nice looks from 3-point range or easy scores in the paint. Junior forward <strong>Johnathan DeJurnett</strong> guarded Howard for most of the game and made his shots at the rim difficult, even contesting a handful of them, resulting in a couple of blocks.</p> <p>After junior guard <strong>Jalen Bo Montgomery</strong> put the Lynx (21-8) back up 58-55, Forest added a score plus two foul shots to secure the win.</p> <p>“In our last home game of the season on Senior Night, Sky came to play,” Lynx head coach Marvis Davis said about Forest, who went 6 of 8 from the free throw line. “He kept everybody under control. He jumped out there offensively. He was motivated. He had the crowd involved. He was doing everything in his power to will us to a win tonight, and he did.”</p> <p>Forest also added nine rebounds and was part of an 11-0 run to put Lausanne up 25-14 after the first eight minutes. Forest also helped the Lynx build a 42-30 lead early in the third quarter, but that lead quickly went away after guard <strong>Myles Neely</strong> made 3 3s in the third to bring the Lions within 42-36.</p> <p>Neely scored Harding Academy’s final four points of the third quarter to bring his team within two (52-50). Guard <strong>Bobby Parks</strong> tied the game at 52-all to start the fourth quarter, then Austin Jackson gave the Lions their first lead of the game at 55-54 after making 1 of 2 foul shots.</p> <p>But, Harding Academy would only hold the lead for less than a minute.</p> <p>Howard, who’s one of three Mr. Basketball finalists in this season’s Division II Class A, was smothered by DeJurnett, who finished with four blocks. Howard was held to 14 points.</p> <p>“Johnathan is capable of doing that every night,” Davis said about DeJurnett’s defensive performance on Howard. “Johnathan is the type of guy that’s going to get us 10 points, 10 rebounds, and a couple of blocks. What people don’t know is that he’s a heck of a defensive player.</p> <p>“He plays hard all the time. Sometimes, he will get cheap fouls because he blocks shots, and guys don’t expect that. But Johnathan came ready to play. He got a couple of dunks in, he got the crowd going. I was so proud of Johnathan and Sky tonight. Both of those guys came to play.”</p> <p>DeJurnett finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Parks and Neely each had 13 for Harding Academy (20-5).</p> <p><strong>3 takeaways</strong></p> <ul> <li>Howard could have finished with at least 30 points if he would have made the nice looks he had from 3 early in the game. When Howard couldn’t get going, the Lions’ offense was stagnant.</li> <li>Forest, who doesn’t have any basketball offers, was the best offensive player on the floor Thursday night.</li> <li>Junior guard Nick Floyd and freshman point guard Hayden Ledbetter are getting better each game with sophomore combo guard <strong>Alden Applewhite</strong> still out with a wrist injury.</li> </ul>