Lausanne survives CPA slowing the game down in DII-A first round but may see it again

Lausanne had 31 points at the end of the third quarter Wednesday and a three-point lead after Christ Presbyterian Academy tried to slow down the DII-A state tournament first-round game.

But the Lynx scored 27 points in the fourth quarter alone to win 58-49.

Lausanne led 4-3 midway through the first quarter and 25-14 at the half. 

The Lions, whose tallest starter was 6-foot-6 forward Caleb Roper, held the ball because they were trying to negate Lausanne's size advantage. The Lynx have three starters 6-foot-5 or taller in Moussa Cisse (6-foot-10), Johnathan DeJurnett (6-foot-7) and Bo Montgomery (6-foot-5). 

CPA coach Drew Maddux said the Lions were not trying to slow the game down "all the way, but just be more patient and try to tempo the game to our favor and do the best we could."

Montgomery led all scorers with 21. Cisse, who is the top-ranked junior in Tennessee and No. 9 in the nation, has offers from Memphis, Georgetown, and Florida state among others. He finished with 16 points and nine rebounds while being double-teamed for most of the game. Most of his points came in the fourth quarter. 

"Everybody tries to slow us down," Montgomery said. "We’re probably going to see it throughout the whole tournament. It’s really frustrating running around the court chasing them, but that’s the way it is."

Lausanne coach Marvis Davis said that when teams try to slow the pace, the goal is to try to get them to speed back up.

The Lynx (24-6) were able to do that by creating turnovers and scoring in transition. Once they built a lead bigger than eight or nine, it forced CPA (24-11) into playing with a quicker pace. Davis said that the game was an example of why Tennessee high school basketball needs a shot clock. 

"Absolutely 100 percent. I wish we did. I wouldn’t even care if it was 45 seconds. We need something," Davis said.

"It’s crazy that you force a team to play defense for minutes and minutes and minutes at a time. That’s not the way the game was intended to be played. But you know it's a part of high school and it's a part of amateurism in the state so we’re going to deal with it and maybe help teams speed it up a little bit." 

Lausanne will travel to Knoxville Grace on Saturday for the quarterfinals.