When the Lone Tree basketball team gets in an offensive flow it’s a thing of beauty.

The Lions played their style of basketball from the opening tip and drubbed Wapello 75-54 to move to 6-2 at the break.

The Lions hit their first two 3-pointers of the game, shots from Tyler McCullough and Harmon Miller to open up a lead they wouldn’t lose. Wapello took two timeouts in the first quarter, the first after Miller’s 3-pointer and the next after a Tyler Bell and-one with 1:59 left and Lone Tree leading 18-5. The Lions were up 20-5 after one quarter.

“When we get going and start hitting threes its just like nobody can stop us,” McCullough said. “We just keep going and playing well in transition.”

From the moment Lone Tree gets the ball it is an all-out sprint to the bucket and those first passes often lead to trailing 3-pointers for the Lone Tree guards. McCullough was 4-8 from deep in the win, Keegan Edwards hit five from deep, Miller had a pair and Alex Viner hit one.

Lone Tree went into the break with a 33-21 lead.

Halftime didn’t disrupt the Lions offense as they scored 25 in the third quarter with their defense frustrating the Indians into turnovers. Edwards scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half.

Lone Tree kept their lead between 15-20 nearly the entire fourth quarter despite a scoring drought for the Lions. When the drought happened, Edwards started looking inside again to Cory Krueger. Krueger finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds on the night and provided some scoring for Lone Tree during a brief scoreless period that quarter.

He said during those times his goal is to try and force the other team into committing fouls or getting shots in the post.

“Mainly just using my height and physicality to get some fouls called and trying to get to the free-throw line and getting shots up there,” Krueger said.

McCullough said that Lone Tree’s passing looked good on Friday night and was a big part of the win.

“Coach said before the game that we needed to move the ball a lot and that ball movement would be key to winning the game,” McCullough said.

Lone Tree had 15 assists on 23 field goals including 10 from Edwards and a pair from Harmon Miller.

The Lions are 5-1 in conference play heading into the break.

Pekin 66, Lone Tree 45

If their game against Wapello was a showcase in what Lone Tree’s offense could be then their 21-point loss to Pekin on Tuesday was a warning of what a bad night could look like.

The Lions were 17-44 from the field and struggled in the second and fourth quarters. Brad Milikin had 17 points for the Panthers in the win and dished out seven assists.

Cale Yoder had a solid night in the post going for 13 points on six of eight shooting and grabbing eight rebounds. The rest of the Lions shot just 30%.

The two teams were tied at 12 one quarter into the contest, but a 25-14 quarter for Pekin in the second was enough to do in the Lions.

Lone Tree outrebounded Pekin 47-39 but Pekin had 13 offensive rebounds. That led to Pekin taking 20 more shots than Lone Tree during the game.

The Panthers were a balanced team with eight players scoring including five with eight or more points.

The loss was Lone Tree’s first in divisional play. Pekin is 5-1 in SEISC North play and 5-2 overall.