(La Porte County, IN) - The college prep boys basketball team from La Lumiere made it look almost easy in defeating a talented squad from Chicago at home on Tuesday.

 

The Lakers, ranked No. 6 in the nation, defeated Chicago Prep Sports Academy 95-51.

 

CPSA kept the game close until the Lakers began pulling away very late in the first quarter on quick buckets from 6’4” Melvin Bell, Jr. after he grabbed an offensive rebound and 6’5” Darius Adams, who nailed a three-point shot.

 

Head Coach Pat Holmes said the scrappy play of their opponents posed some challenges early on.

 

“Our guys adjusted. It took us about four or five minutes to kind of figure it out and then after that we were pretty good,” he said.

 

The second quarter for La Lumiere started with 7’0” Steve Solano catching an inbounds pass and going up for a thunderous slam dunk. However, the 12-point lead for the Lakers was soon cut to seven points.

 

The Lakers then scored 17 of the next 19 points with help from several buckets by 6’4” Jerry Easter, II. The run was capped with back-to-back slam dunks from Bell and 6’7” Jalen Haralson.

 

The lead grew to 23 points after Solano converted a pass into another slam dunk at the halftime buzzer.

 

Any chance for a comeback seemed over when the Lakers outscored the opposition by seven points halfway through the third quarter. The final nails in the coffin were hammered by Adams sinking a three-point shot followed quickly by Haralson doing so from well beyond the three-point line.

 

Easter led the Lakers with 20 points.

Chuck Love, III had 17 points followed by Solano with 14 points.

Bell and Adams scored 12 and 11 points respectively.

 

Holmes said it was nice to see the development in his players after the same opponent in a previous game this season pulled to within nine points after trailing by 25 points in the second half.

 

“To keep on building on a lead, it was great for our group to see that maturity,” he said.

 

Holmes expects his team to receive another invitation to the national finals in March by winning the remaining of what are mostly home games on their regular season schedule.

 

Before the season began, Holmes said he saw championship potential in this team, which had seven new players on the roster from last year.

 

“Where we were in October, where we are now is night and day but there’s still room for growth, which is exciting,” he said.