Lakewood tops Archbishop Murphy 66-65

A competitive game with multiple lead changes saw Lakewood top Archbishop Murphy 66-65 on Jan. 22.

Lakewood coach Anthony Wiederkehr complimented Archbishop Murphy and how they have improved throughout the season.

“Every time we made a run, they responded,” Wiederkehr said. “It was actually incredibly even.”

The first quarter saw the game knotted up at 14-14, and at halftime the Cougars led 28-27. Lakewood was leading by one point, 49-48, at the end of the third quarter.

“I bet there were 15 lead changes in the game,” Wiederkehr said. At one point during the third quarter, Lakewood was up by nine points then Archbishop Murphy went on a 10-0 run.

With about 90 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, Lakewood found themselves down by five points. Junior guard Mason Weller and senior forward Blake Conyers each scored three-pointers putting Lakewood ahead by one point, Wiederkehr said.

Conyers scored 30 points with 11 rebounds against Archbishop Murphy. Wiederkehr said the Jan. 22 game was the third time in four games Conyers scored 30 or more points.

Senior guard Justice Taylor scored 12 points, had nine assists and nine rebounds, which is short of a triple double. “That’s really hard to do in high school,” Wiederkehr said.

The Jan. 22 victory against Archbishop Murphy was the second game in as many nights for Lakewood. Jan. 21 saw the Cougars travel north to face Lynden Christian. Lakewood came up short 83-51.

“I thought they played really well,” Wiederkehr said. The Cougars were even with Lyndon Christian during the first quarter but were down by 14 points at halftime and the Lyncs pulled away in the second half.

Wiederkehr noted that Lynden Christian is the top-ranked 1A team in the state and Lakewood was returning to competition after having several weeks of games canceled. Five games were canceled or postponed in January and three games were canceled or postponed in December.

He said he feels the team is starting to get their feet under them. Lakewood has five games in seven days to finish the season with only one taking place at home. The Cougars travel to Mount Baker Jan. 28 and Marysville Getchell Jan. 29. Lakewood’s home finale takes place Feb. 1 against Meridian and then they travel to Lynden Feb. 2 and Squalicum Feb. 3.

“We’re just trying right now figuring out what we’re doing offensively and defensively to get into the playoffs,” Wiederkehr said.