La Lumiere upsets Findlay Prep 67-66

Findlay Prep had no problems at last year’s inaugural Mike Miller Classic.

This year was a little different.

Findlay Prep, ranked the No. 1 high school boys’ basketball in the country by Maxpreps and No. 2 by Sports Illustrated, lost to La Lumiere 67-66 Thursday night at the Corn Palace.

La Lumiere’s Antonio Drummond knocked down two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to give the Lakers a four-point lead, and Findlay Prep’s Nigel Williams-Goss hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer that made it a one-point finish.

The loss was Findlay Prep’s first of the year. Last year, Findlay dominated Sioux Falls O’Gorman 70-37 at the first-ever Mike Miller Classic.

“This is huge,” said La Lumiere coach Alan Huss, whose team was ranked No. 10 by Maxpreps before the game and presumably will move up the charts after the victory. “We needed a win against a nationally ranked team to put us on the map.”

Williams-Goss had a game-high 25 points and Amedo Della Valle had 15 points for Findlay, which is 14-1.

La Lumiere (12-2) built a 16-point first-half lead after the game was tied at 18 with 10 minutes to play in the first half.

The Lakers got buckets from all angles, knocking down base-line hooks, fast-break layups and a nifty reverse layup from Aaron Emmanuel. La Lumiere’s 16-point lead withered by halftime.

Findlay outscored La Lumiere 11-2 in the final four minutes to get within seven points at the break.

Findlay Prep made its second-half run with about 8 minutes remaining in the game.

Williams-Goss scored six points for the Pilots in a run that got the team within 55-53 with 6:27 left to play. Findlay chipped at the lead and got within two points on multiple occasions, but couldn’t ever tie the game or take the lead in the final minutes.

With 40 seconds to play, La Lumiere’s Obij Aget blocked a layup put up by Williams-Goss that could have tied the game. Aget knocked down two free throws after getting his own rebound that gave La Lumiere a four-point lead. Findlay’s Brandon Ashley — who had 12 points — finished on a dunk with 8.7 seconds left, but Drummond’s free throw made it a two possession game.

“Anytime you can get a win like this, it’s phenomenal for our ballclub,” Huss said. “But we proved what we already knew. We proved we can go out and compete with a really good team.”

La Lumiere hit 8 of its 18 3-pointers and shot 45 percent from the field. Drummond finished with 15 points, Raphael Davis had 14 and Hanner Perea had 13.

Findlay shot 48 percent from the field and had 10 turnovers to La Lumiere’s five.

At 5 p.m. today, La Lumiere plays Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Findlay plays Sioux Falls Roosevelt at 8 p.m.

Tags: mike miller classic, sports, updates, basketball