Boys Basketball: Lucas Winburn, Sycamore start fast, race past Plano

SYCAMORE – Lucas Winburn approached a large orange Gatorade cooler and said, “Now that’s a good quarter.”

The Sycamore senior shared that line and enjoyed a cup of water after scoring nine points in the first quarter of Tuesday’s Interstate 8 Conference game against visiting Plano as the Spartans jumped on the Reapers from the start and never let up during a 59-32 victory.

“It’s always our goal to start off hot and get the other team on the ropes,” Winburn said. “So it’s good to get a good lead at the beginning of the game and coast off that the rest of the game.”

Sycamore (7-10, 2-4 Interstate 8) led 21-3 after one quarter.

“We just didn’t have it,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “We thought we kind of turned a corner, but they just kicked our butts in all facets tonight. They had more hustle, more awareness, and we just didn’t have an answer for anything they were doing.”

After junior Teague Hallahan’s basket with 2:37 left in the first half, all five Sycamore starters had scored and the Spartans led 29-9.

“We really moved the ball around and got everyone involved,” Sycamore sophomore Aidan Wyzard said. “When we move the ball around, we’re more of a better team than one person doing one thing. We play way better as a team.”

Sycamore coach Ethan Franklin emptied his bench before the midway point of the fourth quarter as the Spartans were well in control at 49-24 after a 3-pointer from Jaxon Tierney and a basket inside from sophomore Thatcher Friedrichs.

Friedrichs was one of 11 players to enter the scoring column for the Spartans with Wyzard leading the way with 12, Winburn contributing 11 and sophomore Burke Gautcher adding eight.

“The good thing about our team is anybody can score, and it was good that everybody got looks,” Winburn said. “And a lot of times it’s better to have five guys with five points than one guy with 15, so it’s good that everybody got a chance to touch the ball.”

A lot of those touches came from freshmen and sophomores who combined for 34 of Sycamore’s points. The Spartans continue to make positive strides and still have at least 14 games to play.

“We had a rough patch at the beginning but are now starting to click and play more as a team,” Winburn said. “And we kind of got hot here, so this is a good way to start the new year.”

Wyzard acknowledged the team’s recent growth.

“We’ve progressed a lot in the last six games (4-2) and just keep progressing,” he said. “I think we’re going to be really good. We’ve just now started to click, so things are all coming together, and things like this happen when we all play together.”

AJ Johnson scored eight points, and James Pugh added six points for the Reapers.

“They’re playing hard,” Kee said. “Pugh is getting after it, and I thought Kaleb [Videckis] finally started to get some screen roll action and scored a little bit (four points), but it was way too late. But we’ll be back to figure it out with Morris on Friday.”