Tom Squiers has been pleased with his team’s defensive effort.

The longtime Lone Tree boys’ basketball coach has directed a Lions’ defensive approach that has surrendered just 50.6 points per game this season. In 17 games, Lone Tree’s opponent has eclipsed the 55-point mark in a game just four times.

While the Lions continue to display a winning defense, actual on-court victories have proven difficult to string together due to their offensive limitations.

“We have got to get better offensively,” Squiers said. “That is key. I think defensively, we are right there. We are holding teams 55 and under. We have just got to get better offensively. Our offensive average I think right now, is 36 or 38 points. Either you are going to have to play great defense or shoot the ball better. That is what we have got to do.”

Lone Tree (5-12, 3-10 SEISC) saw its efforts pay off on consecutive days last week. On Friday night, the Lions yielded a season-low point total in a 37-29 road win against Louisa-Muscatine. On Saturday, seniors Cade Patterson and Cade Shield each scored 14 points in a 62-40 victory at Valley Lutheran that gave the Lions back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

Before the Louisa-Muscatine game, Squiers identified Shield, junior Drew Gauley and senior Adam Knock as some of his best on-ball defenders.

“We all work well together, even if we are not communicating,” Knock said. “We all know what we are going to do because we have been playing with each other for so long.”

The wins snapped a six-game loss streak for the Lions.

While Lone Tree has proven difficult to score upon, there are times when a player possesses an offensive game that can seemingly overcome just about any defensive alignment. That occurred on Tuesday, when Wapello’s 6-foot-3 senior guard Maddox Griffin helped his team rally to a 55-42 win with a school-record 41 points.

“He is a good player,” Squiers said. “I thought we did a good job on him for a while, but when he starts making shots from almost the volleyball line, that is tough. And we had a hand in his face a few times. We tried to make things tough on him.”

For a team that has not tasted a ton of success this season, learning how to play with and maintain a lead can be a challenge. Against Wapello, the Lions led by eight points at halftime and managed to push the advantage to 11 midway through the third quarter until Griffin – an Upper Iowa recruit – fueled a 33-9 closing surge that convincingly flipped the scoreboard in the Indians’ favor.

“I think the problem is, there is a big difference between playing to win and playing not to lose,” Squiers said. “And I think our kids play not to lose. All of a sudden, they look at the clock and you have a 10 or 12-point lead and all of a sudden it gets down to five or six and then they just start thinking in the back of their heads that, ‘Uh-oh, here it comes again.’” 

The primary culprit in the offensive struggles has been turnovers. Through the first six games of the season, Lone Tree averaged 12.2 turnovers per game. In the nine games before the Louisa-Muscatine and Valley Lutheran wins, that turnover average jumped to 18.4.

Against Wapello, the Lions turned the ball over 17 times.

“We started turning the ball over and not communicating,” Knock said. “That is one of our big things that we focus on and we just lost it.”

Lone Tree will play for its first three-game win streak in two years when it hosts Columbus Junction on Tuesday.

GAME STATS

Wapello        9    7   20  19  --  55

Lone Tree    17   7   11   7   --  42

LONE TREE SCORING: Cade Patterson 11, Cade Shield 8, Mitchell Koedam 6, Ethan Bockelman 6, Adam Knock 6, Drew Gauley 2, Tyce Alt 2, Tyler Bell 1. REBOUNDING: Knock 6, Patterson 6, Koedam 6.

WAPELLO SCORING: Maddox Griffin 41, Casey Short 5, Jackson Lanz 4, Carson Belzer 3, Tade Parsons 2.

Lone Tree           4   9  12  12   --  37

Louisa-Musc.   7   9  10    3    --  29

Lone Tree          22  21  12   7   --  62

Valley Luth         5   11  12  12  --  40