By Dennis Chambers

Twenty minutes into the most anticipated first-round matchup of the GEICO Nationals, La Porte (IN) La Lumiere was in a position to continue its defense of last year’s championship.

When the halftime buzzer sounded Thursday, the fifth-seeded Lakers were leading No. 4 seed Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep 25-18 and their opponents were shooting 27 percent from the field at Christ the King High School in Queens, New York. 

With sharpshooters in its pocket, La Lumiere looked to build its lead in the second half by relying on hitting shots from downtown. After Pilots senior Bol Bol went 0 for 7 from the field in the first two frames, that didn’t seem like too tall of a task for the Lakers to accomplish.

Except it was.

La Lumiere finished 0 for 12 from beyond the arc, and in a game that ended 66-54 in favor of Findlay Prep, those shots made all the difference. But Lakers head coach Pat Holmes didn’t want to stray from his team's philosophy.

“I always tell our guys, if you have an open look, it’s in rhythm, and it's kind of within the flow of the offense, shoot that thing confidently, because for the most part they hit,” Holmes said. “Paxson (Wojcik) was 46 percent from 3 on the year. I think he hit 50-some threes this year. He’s our best knockdown shooter, bad day to go 0 for 7.”

After losing the likes of Jaren Jackson, Brian Bowen, and Jordan Poole from its championship team a year ago, La Lumiere faced an uphill battle from the start to repeat as national champion. 

Isaiah Stewart, ranked No. 13 in ESPN’s class of 2019, managed all he could down low with 23 points and 14 rebounds. However, his effort wasn’t enough to hold the seven-point halftime lead.

Surprisingly enough for Findlay Prep, the Pilots mounted their comeback with Bol playing one of his worst games of the season as he returned from a recent Achilles injury. A senior-laden team and an experienced effort are to thank for that, according to head coach Paul Washington.

“At halftime, we talked about the things that we had on the board, and the goals we had for the game, and we hadn’t accomplished none of them,” Washington said. “The good thing is I have some seniors, and they cared. No one wants to go home, especially after one day. I think that really hit home for them. They didn’t want it to be the last game of their high school career, and they showed that in the third quarter.”

That sentiment was echoed by one of Findlay Prep's leaders, Kyler Edwards, who scored a team-high 23 points.

“We're majority seniors, no one in that locker room wants to go home,” Edwards said. “We play hard.”

Even still, the Pilots will need a better effort from their most talented player if they want to exit this weekend as champions.

Choosing to sit out of the McDonald’s All-American game this week in order to rest up for GEICO Nationals, Bol oftentimes looked gassed and ineffective on the offensive end. Bol finished just 2 of 10 from the field and scored four points.

“Kudos to him for playing 23 minutes, I tried to rest him,” Washington said of Bol. “I just want him to get some wind, to get up here and run with the fellas. I thought earlier on we kind of, as a team, maybe depended on him a little too much. That’s what we kind of talked about at halftime, that we're a pretty well-balanced team.”

Reggie Chaney was designated to pick up the slack for Bol in the post. From the jump, Chaney knew his teammate was going to have a rough game, but he wanted to make sure his teammates recognized they needed to go on a run for their big man.

“We knew [Bol] was going to be a little rusty,” Chaney said. “He was a little rusty in the game but we came together and said OK we have to play for him. We have to play a little bit harder because he’s rusty. We came out that second half and we had to play a lot harder, and that’s what we did.”

The Pilots live to see another day, and with top seed Montverde (FL) Academy potentially on the horizon, Bol will need a more efficient performance. But Edwards isn’t worried.

“Today was just a warmup for him,” Edwards said. “Tomorrow he should be back most definitely.” 

Washington is of the belief his team’s hard schedule throughout the year built it for this moment. After outscoring La Lumiere 27-8 in the third quarter, it’s hard to argue with the results.

“I think we’re the only team that’s probably been on the road and played 25, 26 games,” Washington said. “We never back down from anything. I put these guys through the fire. We’ve played in places where we’ve probably had five people cheering for us. After being down 14-6 in the first quarter, it wasn’t anything new to us.”

Two more games stand between Findlay Prep and a national title. By already dealing with first-day adversity, the Pilots are off to a strong start.

“For anybody to be down 14-6 to a team that was the defending champ, it probably would’ve rattled them a bit,” Washington said. “For us, it was just another quarter.”