Vernon Hills snares win over Lakes
Vernon Hills guard Chris Argianas, a senior, looked back Wednesday night.
Back to his eighth-grade days.
Back when Vernon Hills High School, in his eyes, probably appeared Taj Mahal huge.
“I remember, yes,” said Argianas, standing courtside in VH's gym. “I remember when I came here for orientation and walked near the (boys basketball) booth, being surrounded by high school kids a year before my freshman year. It was a little intimidating.
“But,” he added, “some of the varsity players at the orientation booth called out my name, told me, ‘Come here. Let's talk.' And they knew my name, a grade-school kid's name. That was nice.”
Argianas, all grown up, nailed 4 treys and scored a team-high 17 points in the Cougars' 60-46 defeat of visiting Lakes in North Suburban Prairie action Wednesday night. The 6-foot-1 Cougar also came down with 7 rebounds.
The other NSC Prairie Division schools had played Tuesday night. VH battled Wednesday because it held orientation for the Class of 2015 Tuesday night.
For future Chris Argianases.
“There was one downside to playing tonight,” Cougars coach Matt McCarty noted. “Coaches — so many coaches — were here tonight, scouting us, getting a good look at us. Their teams didn't have to play tonight.”
Added Lakes coach Chris Snyder: “I saw 10 coaches, at least 10. I looked; I saw a coach. I looked again; I saw another two coaches. I kept looking, and I kept seeing coaches.”
He saw his Eagles (6-14, 4-3) take a 4-0 lead on consecutive baskets from senior guard/forward Parker Blain (10 points, 6 rebounds). Blain also netted Lakes' third field goal. But Vernon Hills (13-6, 7-1) hit a trio of treys — 2 by Argianas — and owned a 17-9 advantage after one quarter.
A free throw from junior guard Darren Hoveydai fattened VH's cushion to 25-16 at 3:01 of the second quarter. Comfy, right?
Wrong.
Lakes tallied the next seven points. Senior forward Nick Hibbing (game-high 20 points, 4 treys) authored a pair of baskets, with the second following his steal. Lakes sophomore guard Direll Clark (7 points) hit a 3-pointer in the run.
Vernon Hills senior DaVaris Daniels (15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals) had a hand in the last two buckets of the half, dishing the assist on a Brian Berzanski basket and beating the buzzer with a pudding-smooth baseline jumper.
VH led 29-23 at the break.
“Our key, defensively, was to pressure their guards between half court and the 3-point arc,” said McCarty. “That spurt we had in the second quarter came because of that kind of defense. We got some turnovers, transition buckets.”
The third frame was a virtual stalemate (13-12, VH), before the Cougars secured the victory with a free-throw heavy fourth quarter. The hosts shot 24 freebies in the quarter, making 16. Lakes went 1-for-3 from the line — the whole night.
“We battled, played tough for four quarters,” Snyder said.
“Competed. We played much better than we did in a loss Saturday (vs. Richmond-Burton). The difference tonight was our effort. I liked how we competed.”
Berzanski finished with 14 points and a team-high 11 boards for VH.
He and Daniels each grabbed 4 rebounds in the fourth quarter of the snappy contest (it took only 51 real-time minutes to complete three quarters).