Boys Basketball: Taylor Lavery leads the way for Michigan City

Updated: December 2, 2011 11:40PM

PORTAGE — When Taylor Lavery passes up a shot attempt, he hears it from the bench.

“Shoot.”

The Michigan City senior guard can’t score if he doesn’t shoot. And the Wolves need him to score.

“We’ve made that obvious to him and the other kids,” Michigan City coach John Boyd said. “He has to be very aggressive in his shot selection.”

Despite missing his first three three-point attempts Friday, Lavery settled in and scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Wolves to a 56-41 victory over Portage in the Duneland Conference opener for both teams.

“I definitely feel more comfortable with the ball in my hands this year,” Lavery said. “And my teammates have more confidence in my game.

Lavery did it with his defense, too. He had seven steals, directly resulting in three easy buckets.

“Coach has us doing defensive slides in practice and has us working on keeping our hands up and moving,” Lavery said. “It’s all about getting easy steals and easy baskets.”

Michigan City (1-1) built a 10-0 lead and cruised from the get-go. The Wolves held the Indians (0-2) scoreless for the first 6:34 until Michael Lattanzi hit a jumper to snap an 0-for-9 shooting start from the field.

“Defense has been a staple of our program,” Boyd said. “We got into the passing lanes and we rebounded well, holding them to one shot.”

Michigan City built a 29-10 halftime lead and led by as many as 25 in the third quarter.

Sophomore Keenan Simmons added 10 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for Michigan City.

Tyler Gonzalez led Portage with 12 points on four 3-pointers. David Jercha added nine points.

“We’re learning each game,” said Indians coach Rick Snodgrass, noting he has just one player back this year with varsity experience. “I was more pleased in the second half with our execution.”

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