The Heat of the juniors 13-15 Washington Youth Basketball League fended off the Lakers on Saturday, 43-31.

“[The Lakers] are a hustle team, they have some ballers,” said Head Coach John Lampkins. “They have a couple players down low that can rebound and are solid.”

Lakers paint presence Chris Norfleet kept the underdog Lakers in the game early with aggressive rebounding, while a couple of mid-range jumpers from Zaire Johnson and Harvey Mculbush prevented the Heat from pulling away. Johnson would finish with a game-high 15 points.

The Heat led 18-11 through 16 minutes and would only expand the lead in the second half. Strong transition defense from the Heat kept the Lakers’ guards at bay, as Lampkins’ team began to capitalize offensively.

Marquis Barnes exhausted the Jaker’s guards finished with a team-high 10 points.

“I think we could have done a little bit better,” said Lampkins. “If we can stick to the game plan at hand, which is finding our best players in the post and kicked to the outside, I think we’d be a whole lot better than we are. We turned the ball over enough for this team here to have been in the game a little bit more than they were. We’re going to brush up on it, go back to work a little bit.”

The Heat will try to stay hot against the Mavericks tonight at 8:30, while the Lakers face off against the Timberwolves beginning at 6:30.