Lancers show promise, but need to pick it up

by Nick D’Amuro
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, February 2, 2008

Following its crushing loss last week to Niagara Falls, most likely figured the Lew-Port boys basketball varsity Lancers could turn around their misfortune next week against North Tonawanda. The Lancers earlier this year defeated NT by a significant margin. So this was a time for them to pick up a win and gain some confidence back.

The only thing picked up that night was Robby Seyler breaking 1,000 career points. Seyler had an impressive game with a team-high 24 points, which raised his total to an impressive1,017 points. He ranked fourth on the list now, and needs only 36 points to jump into the third place spot. It’s nice to see a player break a record of such significance, but the game itself was nearly unbearable to watch.

In fact the only positive from that Tuesday game was his breaking the record. The Lancers took a beating, 72-45. A few weeks ago following the Kenmore East game, their last win, if one had told any Lancer fan or spectator that this team would now have a 7-8 record and be struggling in games such as this, they’d laugh. But that’s the case.

The team needs to find its style of play back, and keep its cool. Quite a few players lost their composure throughout the game and it ended up costing their team points. That needs to stop. The talent is there, but the Lancers need to put it all together once again. It’s not time to give up on the season yet.

This Lancer squad needs to regain that confidence they exhibited in the early going of the season. In the first three or four games, one could see it in the players. Now all that is seen is despair. They have the tools; but they need to bounce back.

Lancer fans all know what this team can do when they are playing their best, but we also have seen it when they are at their worst.