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Lake Park keeps its guard up against Fremd

Lake Park doubled down on Fremd in the semifinals of the 37th annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic on Friday night.

After losing to Fremd earlier this season, Lake Park decided to double-team the Fremd guards when they had possession in the front court. The Lancers were successful in frustrating Fremd's offense, and keeping the Vikings away from the basket to earn a 47-40 victory.

Lake Park (13-2) will meet Notre Dame in Saturday's title game at 8:45 p.m. It will be the Lancers' first trip to the Hardwood finals since 2004, when they won the title for a second straight year.

"First game against (Fremd), we shot terrible," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko, whose team lost to Fremd 53-43 at Fenton's Thanksgiving tournament. "Tonight we made some shots. We got some shots inside. But we guarded better and we were a much more disciplined team."

Lake Park showed that discipline by doubling the Fremd guards. The strategy paid huge dividends in the second half when they kept the Vikings away from the basket.

"(Xavier) Williams and No. 14 (Zach Schoffstall) are dribble penetrators," said Virostko about the Fremd guards. "They are a load when they go to the basket.

"We wanted to make sure that they stayed out of the lane and not get some easy buckets. I thought not fouling them and making them earn jump shots was the key."

Lake Park led early, but Fremd (10-3) fought back to take a 21-20 lead with 55 seconds left in the first half on a basket by Williams (16 points).

Lake Park closed out the half with a 3 by Cameron Van Aswegen and shot at the buzzer by Baily Vance to give Lake Park the lead for good.

In the second half, Lake Park's pressure tactics kept it ahead. Each time Fremd would threaten, the Lancers would come up with a turnover or a defensive stop.

"Our goal every game is to hold our opponent under 40," Lake Park's Connor Vance said. "And they (Fremd) were the only team to score 50 on us this year. Our coached instilled in us that 'D' is going to be our motto, and that is how we come to play."

Fremd made one last charge, cutting the lead to 39-35 on a basket by Schoffstall (8 points) with 3:22 to play.

After the teams traded turnovers, Lake Park's Marcus McDaniel ended the threat. His driving basket with 1:23 left to play put the Lancers up 41-35.

"We were looking to hold the ball," McDaniel said. "I saw that he was playing to my left hand. I saw a lane to the basket and everyone was focused on our shooters. So when I got to the lane, they tried to collapse but they were too late."

From there, Lake Park was able to cruise to the victory, thanks to converting 7 of 10 free throws down the stretch.

Vance led Lake Park with 10 points. McDaniel had 8 points while Michael Karas and Stefan Meccia both had 7.

Pat Benka chipped in 6 points and had a pair of early blocked shots for the Vikings.

Fremd coach Bob Widlowski, whose team could meet Lake Park a third time in the Barrington sectional later this season, said his team struggled offensively.

"Overall I don't think we ran our stuff well" Widlowski said. "And give credit to Lake Park for that. They took us out of some of the thugs we wanted to do and I thought they executed their game plan better than we did."

Images: Lake Park vs. Fremd boys basketball

  Lake Park's Michael Karas goes over the top of Fremd's Deven Chism in the first half of Friday's semifinal game in the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
  Fremd's Patrick Benka is triple teamed by Lake Park players as he shoots during Friday's semifinal game in the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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