Ken Perkins fills stat sheet in North Lawndale’s win over Julian

SHARE Ken Perkins fills stat sheet in North Lawndale’s win over Julian
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North Lawndale may have had a disappointing regular season, but that was then and this is now. The team is pulling things together at the right time and have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Public League playoffs with a 62-44 victory over Julian on Saturday afternoon at Young.

Julian didn’t make things easy in the first half. North Lawndale could only manage a 21-20 halftime lead thanks to a 3-pointer from the left corner by Brandon Marshall at the buzzer.

But the second half was all North Lawndale thanks in part to a great effort from 6-9 center Ken Perkins who made his presence felt despite scoring only six points in the game. However, Perkins showed that scoring isn’t everything as he recorded 18 rebounds, eight blocks, six assists and six steals.

Senior guard Fred Sims also contributed by scoring ten of his game high 20 points in the third quarter, allowing the Phoenix to open up a 43-31 lead going into the final quarter.

The killer instinct that coach Lewis Thorpe had been looking for all season showed itself. The Phoenix (13-12) used an 11-5 run to push the lead to 55-36 with 3:40 remaining in the game.

While many of the slow starts by the team could not be explained, Thorpe cut the team some slack this time citing that several of the players had to take their ACT exam earlier today.

“That trumps everything,” Thorpe said. “This is the one time that I can live with the kid having something else on their mind.”

Perkins’ mind was preoccupied initially after bringing his gym bag to the test site and finding that he could not bring it in. He then allowed the bag to be taken back home and he was forced to try to play the first half in a teammate’s size 12 shoes when he wears 13. He eventually had to wait until the end of the second quarter until they arrived and made up for it with his stellar play.

“I just felt like there was no way I could be responsible for losing this game because I didn’t have my shoes,” Perkins said. “I didn’t realize I was playing that well until my teammates and coaches told me I was killing. It just didn’t seem like that to me. I must have been in a zone or something.”

Deandre Woods scored a team-high 18 points for Julian (15-11). Montrell Barnes added ten points and seven rebounds and Mikyle Cross scored ten.

Thorpe was very closed-mouth about the possibility that his team’s drop to the White Division may be premature as Public League officials are investigating Orr for playing an ineligible player. If found to be true, Orr would have to forfeit all conference games and drop to the White. North Lawndale would stay in the Red.

“I’m hearing things too, but nothing official as of yet,” said Thorpe.

Julian coach Donnie Kirksey said his team has a lot to look forward to after this experience.

“We just got rattled,” he said. “It is the first time that Julian has been on the big stage in 12 years, but from where we came at the beginning of the year to where we are now shows that we have a bright future. I really have enjoyed working with these young men and getting back into coaching on the high school level.”

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