Dawson goes off, but Lew Wallace falls

Updated: April 4, 2011 11:44AM

With all the arms grabbing and poking at the ball every time he touched it, Lew Wallace star Branden Dawson had to wonder if he was being attacked by an octopus.

Even though Western's Panthers collapsed around him every time he possessed the basketball in the lane - usually with eight arms swarming all around him - Dawson demonstrated exactly why he was named a McDonald's All-American in the second semifinal game of the Class 3A Regional at Crown Point Saturday.

Dawson scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, but ended up frustrated after his team's 69-65 loss to the Panthers (19-4).

"We came out and just underestimated Western," the Michigan State-bound senior said.

"Western's a great team with great guards. They came out today and they wanted it more than us."

The up-and-down Hornets (10-11) were impacted dramatically by a poor second quarter offensively - they were outscored 16-2 in the period and registered their only basket following a steal and layup before the buzzer sounded.

"The second quarter wasn't Lew Wallace basketball," Dawson said. "We were rushing our shots and getting frustrated. Western played good defense against us. They did their homework. At halftime, though, I told my guys to never give up and to keep fighting. We came back with a lot of passion and fight in the second half."

And about that 8-of-24 performance at the charity stripe?

"The (bad) free-throw shooting was a major factor in our loss," he said.

The Hornets and Panthers battled to an 18-18 tie after one period, before poor shot selection and hurried shots by Lew Wallace helped the Panthers open up a 34-18 lead.

"Even with that two-point second quarter we came back and cut it to two," Lew Wallace coach Renaldo Thomas said. "It was our ballgame to win or lose, but we ended up on the short end of the stick."

With Western packing it in on Dawson with its 3-2 zone, Dawson was doing the smart thing and kicking the ball out to his teammates. He was being unselfish and passing to his teammates for open looks. The problem was, the Hornets were rushing their shots and not taking advantage of open looks and knocking shots down.

"They (Panthers) came at us with intensity and played good defense," Thomas said. "I'm not going to throw anyone under the bus or anything, but some of our guys didn't come to play today. You have to make plays. You can't have big meltdowns in big moments."

Lew Wallace rallied in the second half behind Dawson, who scored 22 of his 28 points in the final 16 minutes.

The Hornets cut the lead to two points a few times late in the game - the last time at 61-59 after a three-pointer by Dawson - and trailed only 68-65 after Maurice Thurmond drained his fourth trey of the game with 20.2 seconds left.

Mike Williams made a steal for the Hornets, but then Western's Quin Fields stole it back and was fouled.

Fields made one of his two free throws, giving Western a 69-65 lead with 11.9 seconds left, before Lew Wallace turned it over with 6.2 seconds to go, ending any hope of somehow tying the game or winning it.

"Down three with the ball (68-65), you have to make a play there, but it just wasn't a good look," Thomas said.

Thurmond finished with 15 points, while Devonte Harris also was in double figures with 12.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.