Published: December 02, 2007 12:33 am         

Lewis leads Garrett to emotional win

Lakers beat Howard on Martin Night

MCHENRY — J.T. Lewis led the Garrett Lakers on a second-half surge that beat Howard, 76-70, on David K. Martin Night, and won the award named after the late coach as the player of the game.

The Lakers trailed by nine at halftime, but after getting beat off the dribble for most of the first half the Lakers switched to a zone and kept the Howard offense from pulling away.

Lewis was dominate inside with 15 boards and 11 points.

“When I looked and saw that he had just 11 points I was surprised. It seemed like he had 25 to 30. He seemed to be in on every play,” said Garrett coach Dennis Gibson.

Glenn Izevbigie also had a solid game inside with 11 points and nine rebounds. Gibson said of Izevbigie, “The second half was the best he’s played all year.” Nine of his 11 points were scored after halftime.

Garrett rallied to get to within 66-63, then scored 10 straight points to go ahead 73-66. The Lakers were up by 10 with 1:30 to play.

Dante Ridley scored 18 points for Howard, and Kyle Servance had 14.

Martin was a player and a coach in the Garrett basketball program who passed away on June 22 after a long battle with cancer. A player of the game will be awarded after every Garrett contest in Martin’s honor.

The Lakers (6-3, 1-1 JUCO) play at Essex on Tuesday.