Boys basketball: Roosevelt ends four-game skid by trouncing Lighthouse
By Candace Buckner Post-Tribune correspondent January 27, 2012 11:20PM
Roosevelt's Rondell Gardner lays the ball up over over Gary Lighthouse Charter's Thomas Smith Jr.(hands up) during their game held at Roosevelt High School in Gary on Friday January 27, 2012. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 29, 2012 8:07AM
Winning can be the perfect elixir. Just what a team needs after it has lost four straight games and has seen enough upheaval in a week’s time to last a season.
On Friday night, Roosevelt was in desperate need of good mojo, and Lighthouse Charter School served as the sacrificial lamb in the dominating 80-39 win.
Roosevelt senior guard Michael Jenkins showed the touch with six 3-pointers, including two straight in the second quarter to halt Lighthouse’s (2-12) only significant run. Jenkins finished with a game-high 29 points while senior center Rondell Gardner performed as the defensive stopper for 17 rebounds and five blocks. He also tied a season-high with 11 points.
With a new freshman starter and another neophyte filling in big minutes, the Panthers (8-7) jumped on Lighthouse early, releasing some tension along the way.
“The win, it was satisfying but we could have done better by not letting them (close to) 40 points,” said Gardner, who led the cheerleading on the bench in the final minute as teammates held Lighthouse under the 40-point threshold. The Panthers showed more passion in that moment than they had all game.
“It actually felt kind of good,” Jenkins said about the win. “I told them, ‘We’ve got to stop this losing streak.’”
Last week, the Panthers lost four games in six days — the last two by an average of 37.5 points, which Roosevelt played without a pair of ineligible starters. On Friday, one returned, senior Drevon King, who contributed 15 points and nine rebounds. But coach Larry McKissack had to go with freshman Jordan Scott as his starting point guard as the senior who had filled that role the previous 14 games sat in street clothes on the bleachers.
“Jordan stepped up today and that surprised me, him and Khayree (Sims),” Jenkins said of the freshmen duo who combined for 15 points. “I think we can go pretty far with (Scott), he’s doing exactly what we ask him to do.”
After a thoughtful pause, Jenkins, feeling confident about the future, added a final message: “Watch out.”
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