On Jan. 16, 2024, the Lakeland Hawks (8-5) boys basketball team hosted the Kellogg Wildcats (4-9) for the second time this season.
Lakeland pulled off a dominant 68-41 win to complete the season sweep of Kellogg. Lakeland’s season-opener was also against Kellogg, a game that the Hawks also controlled from start to finish. Though beating Kellogg is less of a priority than many of the other teams on Lakeland’s upcoming schedule, beating a team they struggled against last year was a significant milestone for head coach Tony Hanna’s squad.
“We’ve already faced them this year, and we know we’re the better team,” senior Ben Ryan said.
The game was in Lakeland’s favor for the entire first half. They were faster, stronger and more accurate than Kellogg.
“Both teams were trying to play with a pretty quick pace…turned into a lot of turnovers and not a lot of scoring,” Ryan said.
The second half went as expected, with Lakeland still holding strong, forcing Kellogg to play faster tempo than they were comfortable with. This pacing from Lakeland allowed them to break away in some moments and never let go of the lead.
In the second half, Ben Roth stole the ball and broke away from Kellogg. Before anyone could react, Roth was already halfway down the court, sprinting towards the rim. Everybody in the stands watched anxiously, anticipating a rare dunk, but the dunk missed by just a hair.
“I was mostly surprised at first, but I’m glad he went for it. He’s been talking about how he’s been wanting to get one… he was looking bouncy in warmups, so I’m kind of surprised he did not get it,” Ryan said
Lakeland’s hard work and Knowledge of Kellogg is what truly put them ahead in this match. Their ability to predict what would happen and knowing their formations made it very difficult for Kellogg to keep up and perform as well as Lakeland.
This was the final game for the Hawks prior to Friday’s pivotal Battle for the Paddle matchup, and served as a good preparation for perhaps the most important game of the regular season.
