Haviland leads the way for Lakes
Let’s hop 30 years into the future, and perhaps we’ll find U.S. Secretary of State Benett Haviland hard at work trying to solve some of the world’s problems. He has that great of a name.
But back to the present.
Now at Lakes High School, the junior Haviland stands all of 5-foot-11 and weighs in at 165 pounds. So what possible good does he bring to the school’s boys basketball team?
“Everyday I put out a full effort,’’ Haviland said on Saturday night. “I enjoy being out there.”
After surging Lakes handled visiting Round Lake 63-37, it was clear what Haviland does for the Eagles. Despite his lack of height and weight, Haviland hits the boards for the (10-11) Eagles. He makes steals left and right. He will hit the open jumper. And he plays brilliant defense.
“He was the MVP of the game,’’ said Lakes coach Chris Snyder. “He shut (Karnell) Wright down. He’s willing to do anything. He’s a great teammate, too.”
Sounding like a coach himself, Jake Balliu (10 points) joined in the conversation about the game.
“We picked up the intensity tonight,’’ Balliu said. “We were diving for loose balls.”
Wait — that’s another thing Haviland does for his team. There he was, sprawled out on the open court with the ball in his hands. He was surrounded by Round Lake players yet had the presence of mind to call a timeout.
Now, back to that defense on Round Lake’s top scorer, Wright. The senior led Round Lake with 10 points.
“Coach told me to stick with Karnell,’’ Haviland said. “So I did that and made it hard for him. I also got great help-side defense from my teammates.”
Lakes was in command throughout. With Michal Tomasiewicz and Tramone Hudson scoring early, the Eagles raced to a quick 14-1 lead. Balliu had the lone 3-pointer of the game in the second quarter and he scored the last bucket of the first half.
“We need to be ready for the second half of the conference season,’’ Balliu said. “We hit shots and had a good overall game.”
Next up for the Eagles is conference leader North Chicago on Tuesday night.
“We wanted to establish good defense coming out of the gate tonight,’’ Snyder said. “And we had consistent offense as well.”
Round Lake (4-16) trailed by 16 points at the break, 33-17, and the second half didn’t much relief to the visitors. With five minutes to play in the third quarter, the Eagles had three players in double figures.
Hudson took a seat in the fourth quarter and finished with 14 points.
Tomasiewicz scored inside and he finished with 12. Balliu scored the first 3 points of the third quarter.
Round Lake got a late boost from Jashanin Lear, who scored back-to-baskets in a six-second spurt. He would finish with 6 points. Round Lakes’ Rayshawn Bommon had 4 of his 8 points in the fourth quarter.