Wauconda's depth sinks Crystal Lake South
Wauconda may have appeared to be in big trouble as 6-foot-7 Ben Carlson and 6-6 Ricky Sidlowski fouled out while Crystal Lake South cut a 22-point deficit in half during the first four minutes of the fourth quarter Tuesday night at Lou Ramirez Gymnasium in Richmond.
But the Bulldogs showed why they have big aspirations this season. They pushed the lead back out to 18 points and five players scored in double figures as they improved to 2-0 in Richmond-Burton/Johnsburg Boys Varsity Basketball Tournament with a 73-58 victory.
"We feel good with our depth right now," said Wauconda junior sixth-man and swingman Zac Lahrman after scoring 12 points for the second straight game. "We put a lot of pressure on our guards tonight but they got it done."
Carlson had team-highs of 16 points and 8 rebounds before fouling out with 4:35 left on a 3-point play by CL South (1-1) junior Zach Geske (27 points on 8-for-13 shooting and 4-for-7 on 3s). Sidlowski was plagued by foul trouble throughout and had 4 points when he fouled out at 3:59.
But Lahrman, 6-3 Matt Bulgarelli (12 points, 3 assists), Dylan Latiolais (11 points, 6 assists) and Bryan Nee (10 points) combined to shoot 7-for-10 on 3s to drive Wauconda to a 53-31 lead with 7:07 left.
"We're strong across the board," Bulgarelli said.
And with Carlson and Sidlowski out, 6-6 senior Paul Redmann stepped in to score all 6 of his points in the final 3:55. Redmann made all 4 of his free throws as the Bulldogs were 15-for-19 in the fourth quarter and 20-for-25 overall to give them a chance to play for the tourney title Saturday with a win at 7 p.m. Friday against Richmond-Burton (1-1).
"We have some talent and some weapons here and teammates who are willing to pick each other up," said coach Scott Luetschwager after the Bulldogs shot 53.5 percent (23-for-43) from the field. "By far this is the deepest team I've coached. We have a lot of depth at guard and a logjam at the wing.
"The younger guys handled the ball and Paul gave us solid minutes. Matt was huge for us in the middle with a big body who can still handle the ball."
The Gators had also made a run in the second quarter to cut an 18-point deficit to 30-24. Wauconda answered with a 7-0 run in the final 1:59 of the half capped by Bulgarelli's buzzer-beating 3.
"I thought our guys kept playing hard but we couldn't make shots," CL South coach Matt LePage said of his team's 36 percent shooting (18-for-50). "I thought we had a big drop-off on defense. I told the guys when we aren't scoring, how are we going to defend people? We didn't defend hard enough and they played great."
Wauconda punctuated its second straight double-digit victory with excellent ball movement in its delay game and Bulgarelli sending a backdoor pass to Redmann for a two-hand dunk.
"It was nice to have a game like this early to see where we're at as a team," Luetschwager said.
"It's been awesome and we're looking to win the (North Suburban) Prairie division title," Bulgarelli said. "We have a lot of high goals and a lot of potential.
"We've just shown what we're capable of and that wasn't even our best ... against a good Crystal Lake South team."