Grand Meadow boys’ basketball takes over 1st in SEC’s West Division with 53-50 win over Randolph

Colt Landers drilled five 3-point field goals on his way to scoring 26 points, and the Grand Meadow Superlarks held on to defeat the Randolph Rockets 53-50 in Southeast Conference boys’ basketball action at Grand Meadow Saturday afternoon.

1st place in the SEC’s West Division was on the line as the Rockets led 21-19 at the half, but the Larks quickly took the lead in the second half and pushed their lead to as big as nine at 49-40.  The Rockets did not go away, though, and cut the lead to as close as three on two different occasions, the last with under :30 to go when Nick Drinken, who led Randolph with 16 points swished two free throws in the double bonus.  The Rockets then quickly fouled to send Grand Meadow to the free-throw line for a one-in-one, and after a miss the Rockets were able to work the ball into the front court and call time out with 6.7 second to go.  Randolph was able to work the ball to Dane Erlinger on the right wing, but his potential game-tying 3-pointer rattled off the rim, and the Larks were able to pull in the rebound to win.

Landers scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, while Ethan Gilbert and John Baldus each added nine points apiece.  Ben Kraft added six points and Ethan Lane scored two points for Grand Meadow, who moves a game ahead of Randolph for 1st place in the SEC’s West Division with their fourth straight win at 9-1, and they are now 13-4 overall on the season.

The Superlarks are off until  Tuesday evening when they travel to Adams to take on Southland in a non-conference matchup.  Varsity tip-off will be at 7:30 p.m.