By DAVE WOODALL
Slidell sportswriter
MANDEVILLE — In one of the wildest games of the season, the Lakeshore Titans (13-5, 1-1) pulled a 55-54 win out of their hat, beating the Pearl River Rebels (3-15, 0-2) on their home court.
It was a game that had everything from soup to nuts as the overflow crowd got their money’s worth.
Technical fouls were being handed out like party favors as each team got numerous chances at the foul line.
The first period started out slow as neither team could manage to find the basket until Pearl River’s Khalil Burt hit two three-pointers to get the Rebels out to a 6-0 lead.
It wasn’t until 2:15 of the first period that Lakeshore scored when Lon Levy hit from downtown to put the Titans on the board.
The sluggish first period ended with Lakeshore on top 9-8.
The action picked up in the second period as each team seemed to find their legs.
Lakeshore cut off the Rebels passing lanes and went on a 5-0 run.
But Pearl River came right back and were helped by a technical called on the Titan bench to tie it at 14-14.
For the rest of the period Lakeshore struggled to get second chances in the offensive end as the Rebels dominated the boards.
But the Titans kept clawing back to keep it close as Laquincy Lewis hit a three-pointer from mid-court at the buzzer to narrow the Rebel lead to 22-21 at the half.
The third period also saw its share of drama as the lead changed a number of times thanks to technical fouls and sensational shots.
Lakeshore’s Grant Stiebing had a five-point play that came as a result of a made basket, a foul and a technical to give Lakeshore a 36-35 margin with 3:00 left in the third.
With only minutes left in the third, Lewis drained another trey but this time he was fouled. He hit the free throw to give the Titans not only a four-point play but a five-point in the same game helping to give Lakeshore a 46-42 lead going into the final period of play.
Both teams spent most of the fourth period at the free throw line.
Pearl River hit on 10-of-20 while Lakeshore made 3-of-8.
To add to the drama, each team missed clutch foul shots down the line.
But the biggest misses came with little time remaining.
Pearl River’s Wesley Campbell put up a desperation three-pointer and was fouled in the attempt.
Unfortunately for the Rebels he missed all three to preserve the 55-54 Lakeshore win.
“We made a lot of mistakes early that hurt us,” said Titan Coach T.K. Kendall. “We just couldn’t get into a flow since we haven’t played or practiced in three days. And foul trouble hurt us as we had to shuttle guys in and out of the game so that takes away a lot of our game plan.”
Lewis was the leading scorer in the game hitting 27 points and five three-pointers. Stiebing followed with 11 points before fouling out.
Burt led the Rebels with 20 points followed by Tyler Kelly who had 12 points. A.J. Taylor and Charles Debose contributed eight points each in the loss.