O’Brien: Antwone Lampkin drops 32, Wells beats Clemente in OT

Wells coach Michael Horton wasn’t pulling any punches in the preseason. He sent in his info for the Twitter previews with guard Antwone Lampkin listed as “the Charlie Moore of the Blue Division.”

On Thursday at Clemente the 5-6 junior began to live up to the hype. Lampkin scored 32 points, including the two free-throws that put the Raiders ahead for good, to lead Wells to a 66-62 overtime win against the Wildcats.

“After [Horton] said that I knew I had to show everyone,” Lampkin said. “I couldn’t just let him talk and then not do it.”

Lampkin shot 8-for-13 from three-point range. He also had five rebounds and four assists.

Lampkin was born in Chicago and moved to Lafayette, Ind. in third grade. He started high school at McCutcheon in Lafayette and moved back to Chicago last year.

“He wasn’t eligible until the last six games and he made about 30 three-pointers,” Horton said. “He had two buzzer-beaters and a lot of clutch free throws, he’s a confident shooter.”

Deshawn Washington, a 6-5 senior, added 11 points and eight rebounds and 6-6 sophomore Darrion Prince scored six and grabbed eight rebounds for the Raiders (2-3).

Horton was an assistant coach under Vince Carter back in Von Steuben’s glory years. There are much different challenges at Wells.

“At Von Steuben everybody was thinking they were going to Division I schools,” Horton said. “None of these guys [at Wells] play AAU ball, they maybe play in the park district. But they still think they are going to the NBA. They don’t understand practice time is important. I open the gym up in the summer for open gym and I get one, maybe two guys.”

Horton and Clemente coach Adam Hoover started up the series between the two teams a few years ago.

“Clemente isn’t a big school or anything, but they are one of our major rivals,” Horton said. “I’m hoping that beating them will help get the kids excited about the game.”

A good crowd turned out for the game. Clemente led by seven after one quarter and by two at the half. The Wildcats were just 8-for-18 from the free-throw line.

Junior Teshawn Stokes led Clemente (5-1) with 16 points and eight rebounds. Senior Jamaul Perdue had 15 points, five rebounds and three steals and senior Joe Rhymes added 16 points.