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Travlos' triumph helps Lake Zurich roll on

It was a routine jumpshot that Mike Travlos has made hundreds of times before. Right around the free throw line.

Only this time, it went down in the record books with a bit more significance. It counted for his 1,000th career point, and it helped pave the way for Lake Zurich's breezy 64-31 victory over Grant at the Grant Thanksgiving tournament.

The Bears are now 3-0 on the season.

Shortly after the milestone was announced over the loudspeaker, Travlos was subbed out of the game to cheers from the Lake Zurich crowd and high-fives from his coaches and teammates.

Travlos, Lake Zurich's sharpshooting senior guard who recently committed to Division II Hillsdale College in Michigan, was 7 points away from the 1,000-point milestone coming into the game. He finished with a game-high 18 points and was presented with the game ball after the game.

"It means a lot, I'm not going to lie, it does. But we got the win and that's what really matters," said Travlos, who was brought up to the varsity midway through his freshman year. "Coach (Billy Pitcher) told me before the game about it. It was good.

"I think we're really jelling right now. We've got our offense moving really good, we're playing really good defense and we're playing well as a team."

Never seriously threatened, the Bears got off to a quick 8-2 lead and were up 24-11 by the end of the first quarter. The lead was 41-14 at halftime and ballooned to 36 points in the third quarter.

Will McClaughry and Nick Penny also finished in double-figures for Lake Zurich. They each had 12 points.

"It's really cool for Mike and for our entire program to see a guy score 1,000 points," Pitcher said. "It's really tough to get to it and that he did it with pretty much a whole season to go here is really special. He's really committed. I mean, he came into the gym two or three hours before our bus time today to shoot. That's how he is all the time. He's always putting a lot of work in. He plays basketball year-round, he's worked on his conditioning and strength and it's really paid off for him."

Grant, which is 0-3 and starting two sophomores in Logan Lewis and Andy Kaye, struggled to get its methodical offense flowing. The Bulldogs took only 16 field goal attempts in the entire first half. Lake Zurich also forced 10 Grant turnovers in the first half.

James Mobley topped Grant with 11 points.

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