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Crystal Lake South routs Elgin

Crystal Lake South senior point guard Tyler Baker appears to be an unlikely candidate to produce a double-double in points and rebounds.

The 5-foot-9 Baker was part of a Gators' starting lineup Friday night that includes 6-9 junior Josh Friesen. The other starters were between 6-2 and 6-4 with 6-5 Wes Buckner coming off the bench in their final pool play game of the Richmond-Burton/Johnsburg Boys Varsity Basketball Tournament against Elgin.

But Baker finished with 10 points and a game-high of 10 rebounds and junior Zach Geske had a game-high 19 points for the Gators in a 66-36 victory at Lou Ramirez Gymnasium in Richmond.

"He can really get up," CL South coach Matt LePage said after Baker led the way to a 29-16 overall rebound advantage.

"That's not normally a big part of my game," Baker said. "But someone has to do it and if the ball is coming my way I'm just going to get it."

R-B beat Wauconda 71-70 in Friday's second game at Richmond so they finished pool play with CL South at 2-1. Wauconda won the fewest points allowed tiebreaker (162) and will play Zion-Benton for the title at 7 p.m. Saturday at Johnsburg, with R-B (175) playing Grayslake North for third at 5:30 p.m. and CL South (177) playing Johnsburg for fifth at 4 p.m.

Baker had 8 rebounds in the first half and the first of his two 3-pointers gave CL South a 31-19 lead at the break. LePage said everyone doing their job of blocking out gave Baker the opportunities to turn misses into quick points by leading the secondary fastbreak.

"Tonight we did a better job of moving the ball up the floor," Baker said after the Gators shot 51.8 percent from the field (29-for-56).

"When the point guard gets it, he's so quick," Geske said, "He can get up the court real fast and get the fastbreak going real well."

Geske continued the torrid start to his varsity career by shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 3-for-5 on 3-pointers. He is averaging 23.7 points with 11 3s in the tournament.

"It actually has (surprised) me a little bit because I've been struggling to shoot a little bit in practice," Geske said. "But I've come ready to play and knock down 3s."

Said LePage: "Zach has been fantastic. He's been awesome. He's been efficient and I don't think he's taken a bad shot yet."

Kyle Bartusch had 10 points and 6 assists, Friesen had 8 points and 6 rebounds and Alex Reich added 7 points for the Gators.

Junior point guard Desmond Douglas had a team-high 9 points for Elgin (0-3), which plays Guerin (0-3) for seventh place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and juniors Jakub Zajac and Dijawon Bonds added 8 points apiece. Junior Lavion Baldwin did not dress for the game and coach Mike Sitter said his status for a return to action has not been determined.

Sitter was encouraged by what he saw as the Maroons scored 15 points in a 4:23 span of the second quarter and got within 26-19 on Zajac's 3.

"We made them go zone because they couldn't guard us in their man-to-man," Sitter said. "We had five guys playing as a unit so we went with that five for a long period of time.

"We're having a hard time finding the right mix of guys and we're going to play 10 or 11 guys until we find that mix. Usually I only play seven but right now we're giving guys chances and when we find five we'll go with them."

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