By SCOTT COTTOS
sports editor
KANSAS — North Baltimore immediately established control quickly and never lost it.
The Tigers went to the basket and disrupted Lakota’s offense from the get-go and raced to a 72-52 victory on Wednesday night in nonconference boys basketball.
Levi Gazarek, a standout 6-foot-5 forward, scored a game-high 19 points and snared seven rebounds. Senior Julian Hagemyer recorded a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers notched their fourth straight win and boosted their record to 12-3.
Senior Josh Kagy’s 13 points paced the Raiders, who fell to 2-15 with their seventh consecutive loss.
Hagemyer, Brady Rader, Tyler Durfey and Chase Naugle scored baskets for the Tigers as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first 2 minutes. Lakota closed to 12-8, but North Baltimore finished the first quarter with a 9-0 run, took a 21-8 advantage into the second period and never looked back while connecting on 31 of 56 from the field (55.4 percent).
“We came out and we hit them in the mouth right away,” Tigers’ coach Adam Burris said. “That’s what I challenged them to do. In the first quarter, we’ve just got to get off to a first start.
“We gave up a little more points than I wanted to, but defensively we were active, so I really liked it.”
Raiders coach Ty Ray had a verbal tip of the cap to North Baltimore.
“I was just really thoroughly impressed with how good North Baltimore was,” he said. “That’s a high-quality team right there that we just played. I thought we played pretty well, for us, and we just couldn’t even come close to competing, with just as long and athletic and talented that they are.”
Victory No. 12 matches last year’s total for the Tigers, who last year picked up a head of steam in tournament play and advanced to the Division IV regional semifinals.
Having lost only one key player to graduation, North Baltimore entered this season with heightened expectations, but Burris said the players’ confidence rose too far.
Now, though, Burris likes his team’s mental approach with the postseason less than a month away.
“Earlier this season, we had some close games against some teams that probably shouldn’t have been too close,” he said. “That’s a little bit of overconfidence, and that’s probably on us as coaches, too. We’ve really got to dial them in.
“But I think we’re finally realizing that it doesn’t matter who we play. We’ve got to come out and play our game, and if we do, we’re pretty dangerous.”
After Hagemyer keyed his team’s start with an 11-point first quarter, seven Tigers scored in the second to make for a 41-21 halftime lead. North Baltimore led by as many was 28 before the final buzzer.
Hagemyer added four assists to his night’s work. Rader and Durfey supplied the Tigers with 10 points apiece, and Naugle matched Hagemyer with four assists.
Braden Schaser followed Kagy with 12 points for Lakota.
north baltimore (12-3)
Gazarek 7-3–19, Hagemyer 8-1–18, Durfey 5-0–10, Rader 4-2–10, Naugle 2-0–4, Flores 2-0–4, Cotterman 2-0–4, Ogg 1-0–3, Bucher 0-0–0, Heineman 0-0–0, Holloway 0-0–0, Snyder 0-0–0. TOTALS: 31-56 5-9 — 72.
lakota (2-15)
Myers 2-2–7, Kagy 4-3–13, Wehrle 2-0–5, Schaser 5-0–12, Gabel 2-0″”4, Miller 1-1–3, Hipsher 1-0–3, Balderson 0-0–0, White 0-0–0, Walter 0-0–0, Reinhart 0-0–0, Goodman 0-2–2, Travis 0-0–0. TOTALS: 17 8-15 — 52.
North Baltimore 21 20 20 11 — 72
Lakota 8 13 16 15 — 52
3-Point GOALS: North Baltimore 4-13 (Gazarek 2, Hagemyer & Ogg 1); Lakota 8 (Kagy & Schaser 2, Myers, Hipsher, Wehrle & Reinhart 1).
rebounds: North Baltimore 31 (Hagemyer 10).
turnovers: North Baltimore 12.
junior varsity: North Baltimore, 66-61.
FRESHMEN: Lakota, 49-21.