Whittington `wows' crowd

Ledesma need not worry. Tuesday, the 6-foot senior all-stater excelled at the position for Lawrence, which advances to a basketball state semifinal contest for the first time since 1962. Ledesma finished with 15 points, 12 assists, seven steals and five rebounds to help the fourth-ranked Tigers (23-1) secure a 7:50 p.m. Thursday matchup against No. 6 Detroit City (20-4) at Michigan State University's Breslin Center. Detroit City defeated Auburn Hills Oakland Christian 59-42 on Tuesday.

Whittington, who also grabbed a co-game-high 13 rebounds, was at a loss for words when asked about the upcoming trip to the Breslin. As for the new open-court move that he unveiled before 2,017 fans, Whittington could've embellished but chose to be honest. ``Well, that was an accident,'' he said with a smile. ``I was trying to get rid of the ball and there was no one around. They were about to double-team me, so I tried to dribble out of it and scoop it up and somehow it went in.''

Maybe it's a secret. What's not was how the Tigers were able to dismantle a Lansing Christian team (20-5) that simply could not match up physically. Leading 37-28 at halftime, Lawrence wore down the smaller Pilgrims and punished them in the paint in the second half.

Whittington scored 11 third-quarter points and had eight points and five rebounds in the fourth. The Tigers enjoyed a gaudy 43-17 advantage on the boards.Younger brother Shayne Whittington, a 6-9 junior center, added 13 points and 13 rebounds.

``Our size wore them down a lot,'' Lawrence coach Mike Salvano said. ``Our big boys are very active in there. Spencer's a load, and (the Whittingtons) just don't move very easily. They had trouble with our big boys underneath.''

Ledesma did his part to feed the ``big boys,'' but had plenty of help. Senior guard Logan Rowe (seven points) and junior guard Lee Cammire (eight third-quarter points) had five assists apiece for Lawrence.

 

The Tigers got several high-percentage shots, finishing 31-for-67 (46.3 percent) from the field. They also hit six 3-pointers to zero for Lansing Christian, which went 23-for-51 (45.1 percent) from the floor. ``They really force the tempo,'' Lansing Christian coach Donn Start said of the Tigers. ``I did not want to play man-to-man, because the minute you play man-to-man and they break you down off the dribble, you step up and they dump it down (to the post players). When they got such a big lead, I could not play zone. ``We just ran into a team that had all the skill positions filled.' Senior guard DeOndra Callahan, who led the Lansing area in scoring this season at 23.7 points per game, finished with 26 for the Pilgrims. Senior guard Mike Garza scored 10 for Lansing Christian.

Senior Hayden McAndrew provided a spark off the bench for Lawrence, hitting two 3-pointers and scoring all seven of his points in the second quarter. ``It's the ugliest thing in the world, but it goes in,'' McAndrew said of his jump shot.

The Tigers say their ability to poke fun at themselves and stay loose has been a big key to their postseason run. ``We don't sweat the small stuff a lot,'' Spencer Whittington said.

Performing on the big stage at Breslin, however, might be enough to make any high school basketball player sweat. Whittington said he really doesn't know what to expect. ``When people are saying, `Hey, you guys are going to the Breslin Center,' you don't even think about it yet,'' he said. ``I probably won't even realize it until I walk into the building and start warming up.''