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Wheeling title to McDaniel, Lake Park

With his team trailing 19-11 to Notre Dame with 1:26 left in the first quarter, Lake Park coach Josh Virostko thought his Lancers might be in for a long night.

"They had us on the ropes. We were pressing too much and I think we were too hyped up," said Virostko. "They were executing with every play they made. But then we scored two baskets at the end of the quarter to get back to 19-15. I knew we were back in the game."

The Lancers used a second-half surge after being tied at 29 to take down the Dons 62-52 in the championship game of the 41st annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic on Saturday night.

Senior guard Marcus McDaniel, an all-tournament selection, provided the spark.

McDaniel had a putback basket as the buzzer went off to end the first quarter.

McDaniel scored 9 of his 19 points in the second quarter to help keep Lake Park (14-2) within striking distance. McDaniel also had the defensive duty of trying to contain tournament MVP Joe Mooney.

"As a team, we take pride in our defense," said McDaniel. "Tonight our defense led to the offense. When we first came out we struggled with our defense. I felt I had to get our offense going."

The Lancers, who have won eight in a row, took the lead for good with 7:35 left in the third quarter.

Lucas Simon of Notre Dame (11 points) had broken the 29-all halftime tie with a basket.

Cameron Van Aswegen gave the Lancers the lead at 32-31 with a 3. That basket led Lake Park to a 12-3 run to open a 41-34 lead. Lake Park extended it to 46-36 following Christopher Filip's basket with 1:23 left in the third quarter.

The Dons' Ammar Becar (17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists.) then banked in a 30-foot 3-pointer to make it 46-39 as the quarter ended.

Leading 51-45 with 5:44 left in the game, the Lancers opened up a 59-47 lead with an 8-2 spurt capped by Van Aswegen's putback.

Notre Dame (10-2) could not come back.

Virostko could not praise McDaniels enough on his defensive work in keeping Mooney in check. Mooney finished with 15 points but shot 4 of 11 from the field.

"For us to win," said McDaniel, "I had to keep him under 20 points, that was the key to the game."

Virostko agreed.

"He's our best defensive player," said Virostko. "He gets the others team's best offensive player and more often than not he holds them down. It was great defense by the whole team. I told the kids before the game that ordinary players can do some extraordinary things."

Van Aswegen scored 10 points, and Tim Weiss added 9 points for Lake Park. Connor Vance, also an all-tournament selection, and Michael Karas each scored 6.

"They executed better than we did," said Notre Dame coach Tom Les. "They deserved to win. With the way they spread their offense they really made us work on defense. Tonight our bench did not do the job that they had done in the other games."

This was Lake Park's fourth tournament championship. The Lancers last won in 2004.

Images: Wildcat Hardwood Classic championship game

  Lake Park's Stefan Meccia tries to get between Notre Dame's Ammar Becar, left, and Dan Messina during the Wheeling Wildcat Hardwood Classic championship game Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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