Harris Soars to New Heights in Cleveland Rout

Lucious Harris is usually quite capable of finding ways to score without too much help from his friends. After all, in Cleveland High’s past 5 games, Harris is averaging 21 points. Being 6-foot-5 and able to leap small earthlings in a single bound doesn’t hurt, either.

Sometimes, however, a little assistance is too good to pass up. Take the alley-oop pass for example. In Cleveland’s 94-45 rout of Crossroads in a nonleague game Tuesday at Cleveland, Harris and teammate Adonis Jordan tried the fancy lob job 3 times.

“I told him he better get up there because I was gonna lay it right on the rim,” said Jordan, a senior point guard who finished with 22 points and 11 assists. “I told him, ‘You go and get it.’ ”

Harris got plenty, finishing with a career- and game-high 29 points to lead the Cavaliers (4-2) to an easy win over the Roadrunners, a team that moved from the Southern Section 1-A Division to the 2-A level this season.

Harris, a senior forward, and Jordan tried the lob for the first time with 1:52 left in the first quarter. With the Cavaliers leading, 21-12, Harris raised a hand to alert Jordan, cut toward the basket and Jordan threw the perfect pass.

The play came during the midst of a 10-2 run that turned a 15-12 Cleveland lead into a 25-14 advantage after the first quarter.

Crossroads (1-3) would score only 6 more field goals after the dunk, which not so much turned the tide as woke up the Roadrunners’ opponent. Cleveland rolled through the rough spots of a slow start--the Cavaliers trailed, 10-9, in the first quarter--and rolled up some big numbers with its pressing defense.

The Roadrunners turned the ball over 31 times, including 10 in the third quarter as Cleveland outscored them, 25-4, to take a 69-32 lead.

Nine different Cleveland players scored, which made it easy to understand how Harris and Jordan were able to find the time to try the alley-oop 3 times. Especially as it worked only once.

“We try to get at least one of those a game,” Jordan said as he playfully elbowed Harris in the ribs. Jordan’s only 2 turnovers came when Harris was unable to grab the ill-timed lobs. “One for three, though, we’ll have to work on that.”

With 5 steals, Jordan led the quick-handed Cleveland guard contingent. The Cavalier backcourt combined for 43 points.

Crossroads’ only bright spot was forward Brandon Wilkerson, who scored the Roadrunners’ first 10 points. Wilkerson finished with a team-high 25 points and accounted for 9 of his team’s 12 field goals.