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Zion-Benton turns back determined Wauconda

Wauconda exhibited no hesitation or trepidation right from the start of Saturday night's championship game of the Richmond-Burton/Johnsburg Boys Basketball Tournament against Lake County power Zion-Benton.

Ricky Sidlowski went right in and scored off the opening tip for the Bulldogs. On their next possession, Matt Bulgarelli drove right at 6-5 Tennessee recruit Admiral Schofield for a drive that rimmed off.

And early in the fourth quarter the outcome was still in doubt when Wauconda junior point guard Bryan Nee nailed his fourth 3-pointer.

But a sudden long-range outburst saw the Zee-Bees finally pull away to claim the title with a 66-49 victory as Schofield had game-highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds at Johnsburg.

"There was no moment in the game where we thought we were out of it," Nee said after scoring a team-high 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 behind the arc. "We can compete with anyone if we work hard.

"I feel like this is a good wakeup call to know where we have to get before the end of the season. We have to keep working to get better and better."

Z-B (4-0) ended the first half on a 12-point run to lead 30-17 as 6-7 senior and all-tourney pick Ben Carlson (4 points, 4 rebounds) played only four minutes for Wauconda (2-2) with two fouls. But Nee found Dylan Latiolais (9 points) for consecutive 3s and Sidlowski forced a turnover that led to Nee's 3 off Bulgarelli's assist to make it 30-26.

An emphatic two-hand slam by all-tourney pick Schofield off a loose ball didn't rattle the Bulldogs. Sidlowski's offensive rebound and assist to Nee for a short jumper in the lane made it 36-32 with 4:16 left in the third.

"As small as he is, he brings a big game for us," said Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager after the 5-8 Nee also had 4 assists and 4 rebounds while contending all night with Zion's intense man-to-man pressure. "He's able to hold his own and not let the pressure bother him. He looks for his teammates and when he's open he's not afraid to take the shot."

All-tourney pick Zac Lahrman (7 points) found Nee for 3 to cut the deficit to 40-35 with 7:08 left. Zion had missed its first 7 attempts behind the arc but then hit five in a row - three by sophomore Damarquis Henry - in 19-5 tear that made it 59-40 with 3:49 to play.

"We've got young kids but they don't play very young," said first-year Z-B coach Bob Worthington. "I give (Wauconda) credit, they were down and they fought, which any good high school team is going to do. We were prepared for it and our guys responded in the right way."

Wauconda shot 13-for-21 from the field and 6-for-8 behind the arc in the second half. But Zion scored 16 points from its 16-7 offensive rebound advantage and got 15 points off 19 turnovers.

And the Bulldogs, who made 86 percent of their free throws (57-for-66) in the first three games, missed their only 2 attempts.

"Our main focus every game is to box out and out-rebound them and out-free throw them, which we didn't do, and limit their second chances," Nee said. "I give a lot of credit to them. They worked hard on offense to get those boards."

This was a good primer for a Wauconda team that has hopes of winning the North Suburban Prairie and meeting one of the Lake Division powers such as Stevenson, Zion or Lake Forest with a league title at stake in late February.

"We had opportunities to fold like (Friday's 71-70 loss to Richmond-Burton) and we fought and came back, but we just couldn't sustain it," Luetschwager said.

"I think we learned a lot about ourselves and we know where we have to go," Nee said. "We're not anywhere near where we have to get, but to finish in second place, we're all proud of that."

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