When a team goes through a rough patch sometimes changes are needed. After losing five of its six White-North games, Mather coach Anthony Colston abandoned a senior-laden starting lineup for one that included two sophomores and a junior.
The changes seemed to spark Mather, which defeated Lake View 65-41 on Wednesday. The win catapulted the Rangers to a .500 record in conference and was the fourth in a row in a steak that includes avenging previous conference losses to Northside, Schurz, and now Lake View.
“I needed to change the lineup around, get some new players in there,’’ Colston said. “Once I got the sophomores in there, you saw what we can do. We’ve won four straight now.’’
Mather controlled the game from the start. Emir Martin gave the Rangers their first lead at 5-3, and the hosts never looked back.
After leading 30-24 at the half, Mather outscored the Wildcats 17-8 in the third period, going on a 13-4 run midway through the quarter.
“We knew we had to come out and score,’’ sophomore Travon Bell said. “We didn’t really change a lot of stuff up, we just executed better.’’
“We knew if we score we win, so that’s what we did.’’
Mather’s defense stepped up in the fourth, not allowing Lake View to score in the opening 4:58.
“A game like this is good because it let’s players that don’t play a lot get playing time and experience for the future,’’ Bell said. “We can work on stuff we need to.’’
Bell scored a team-leading 17 points, while senior Steve McLachlan added 10 points. Four other plays scored six points apiece for the Rangers (8-9, 5-5). Devin Thompson led the Wildcats (7-10, 3-6) with seven points.
