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Sports

Analysis: Foul-Filled Game Costly for Andrew

Thunderbolts never get in an offensive rhythm against Lockport in the Stagg Regional championship game.

It wasn't the kind of start Andrew had anticipated Friday night in the .

Andrew committed five turnovers and six fouls in the first quarter, falling behind 13-7 after the opening eight minutes.

"We didn't come out as hard as we could've," Andrew sophomore Jubril Adekoya said. "They got a good cushion of a lead and then we kept picking up fouls and couldn't put anything together."

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Lockport had control almost the entire game en route to its 60-47 victory.

Andrew (16-11) made only five field goals in the first half. Sophomore Glorina Lisha had three of those, while Jubril Adekoya had one and Jawad Adekoya drained a three-pointer.

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Still, the Thunderbolts trailed only 28-18 at halftime.

"They did a nice job on defense," Andrew coach Mike O'Halloran said. "It was hard with no rhythm or flow to the game and it was an uphill battle from the very beginning."

Jubril Adekoya did everything in his power to keep his team close. He had only five field goals, but he created opportunities for himself and got to the foul line, converting 13 of 19 free throws.

"I think this is the game he played the hardest in," O'Halloran said. "If we can harness that and get more consistency, I mean, he had an outstanding season, but there's just that much higher of a ceiling for his junior year next year."

Other than a 10-0 run by the Porters in the first quarter, neither team went on a lengthy scoring run. A lot of that had to do with the numerous stops in play caused by the whistle of the referees. The teams combined for 46 fouls but, amazingly, no one fouled out of the game. Each squad finished with four different players with four fouls.

"I told the kids there would come a time where they'd have to run the offense," Lockport coach Lawrence Thompson Jr. said. "Once we started moving the ball and the kids weren't just standing around and watching, they did a better job."

The Porters made 21 of 31 free throws compared to Andrew's 20-of-33 effort. While the teams’ free throws were pretty much a draw, the frequent stoppages seemed to get Andrew out of synch.

"We game-planned really hard for these guys and knew what they were going to do," Lisha said. "We just fell flat with all the fouls and just couldn't get into any rhythm."

And much like the game’s start, the finish wasn't good for the Thunderbolts.

"You hate to end it like that for the seniors and stuff," Jubril Adekoya said. "We didn't play bad, we just could've played much better."

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