Lakers 2012-13 Season Comes to a Halt in the Regional Quarterfinals

DELHI, NY. – The Lakers 2012-13 season is now a thing of the past. It came to an end on Friday (3/1) when they lost to the nation's sixth ranked team in Herkimer County CC. #8 Finger Lakes, in a regional quarterfinal matchup with the #1 Generals, came up just short in its quest to advance onto the semifinals as it fell 56-52.

The Lakers, in their season finale with the Generals, hung in the contest all game long despite the game not ending in their favor. Herkimer established a 29-24 halftime lead, but was outscored by Finger Lakes in the second half by a point. The Lakers edged the Generals in the scoring column post halftime 28-27 before falling by four points.

Neither team shot the rock at a high percentage on Friday. Finger Lakes, by a hair, outshot Herkimer 32 percent to 31 percent. The Generals – despite shooting just 68 percent (13-19) from the free throw line, converted on four more free throw attempts than the Lakers – who were just 9-21. Looking at the box score, if you had to point towards one area that made a difference in the outcome of this regional playoff contest, you could easily direct your attention towards made and missed free throws.

Finger Lakes, in a losing effort, received a game-high 14 points from sophomore Richard De La Cruz. The outside shooting presence, in the final game of his FLCC career, cashed in on a game-high three 3's in 31 minutes. From beyond the arc, De La Cruz finished the game 3-8.

Following De La Cruz in the scoring column for the Lakers were Dominique Higgins and Sean Carbonell. Higgins joined De La Cruz in the double-digit scoring aspect of the box score by dropping in 10 points. In addition to his scoring, Higgins doled out a game-high 7 assists.

Carbonell, who, along with Higgins were both 4-9 from the floor, contributed 9 points on the night. To go along with his points, Carbonell tallied a game-high 10 rebounds all while registering a team-high 3 steals. Both Higgins and Carbonell, like De La Cruz, saw the court for 31 minutes.

Herkimer advanced in this year's regionals thanks to the 13-point and 11-point efforts it received (respectively) from Dequan Jefferson and Jerome Floyd. Jefferson's team-high 13 points came on a day where he recorded a team-high 9 rebounds.

Demetrius Mitchell added 8 points and a team-high 5 assists in the win for the Generals.