Boys Basketball: Oak Lawn’s Lyndell Johnson comes through in clutch

Updated: January 3, 2012 9:18PM

For 16-plus minutes in Tuesday’s nonconference game against Chicago Christian, Oak Lawn’s Lyndell Johnson saw his Spartans teammates do just about everything right.

Playing aggressive defense, playing patient offensively against the Knights trapping defense and playing together, Oak Lawn raced to a 19-point lead in the third quarter.

For the next seven minutes? Not so much.

“We didn’t come out ready to play in the second half,” Johnson said. “Maybe a little holiday hangover.”

Fighting off a furious Chicago Christian comeback, Johnson had two huge fourth-quarter baskets to help preserve a 46-40 Oak Lawn win.

Johnson finished with 12 points with Martin Einikis (12 points, 14 rebounds) and Jacob Campbell (nine points) contributing for Oak Lawn (5-7).

Shooting just 4 of 23 from the field in the first half, the Knights trailed 23-8 and then went down 27-8 after two quick third quarter buckets for Oak Lawn. Held to two points early, Kamp scored 11 as part of Chicago Christian’s 14-2 run that wiped away the deficit.

In the fourth quarter, two Adam Doorn free throws made it 33-29, but Johnson came through for the Spartans. Picking off a lazy bounce pass, Johnson went in for a layup untouched.

“The coaches always tell us defense leads to offense and easy shots,” Johnson said.

The senior guard added a three-point play with 2:12 left to put Oak Lawn up by double digits again and hold on for the closely officiated win.

“Lyndell’s done that a couple times this year where he picks a moment when we really need a basket,” Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes said. “He seems to get stronger as the game goes on.”

Michael Kamp’s 19 points and 12 rebounds led Chicago Christian (6-9).

“We can’t dig ourselves a hole like we did,” Chicago Christian coach Kevin Pittman said. “It’s a dangerous way to live. We just didn’t play good enough defense until halftime.”

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