Rohr, Lakes shoots past Wauconda

Kyle Rohr's four-point play cued a roar from Lakes' crowd.

"As soon as he shot it, I knew it was going in," Eagles forward Ethan Sage said. "As soon as it came out of his hand, it looked good. And he sold it well enough to get the foul."

Even louder is the noise Lakes' basketball team is making the court.

The Eagles climbed within a game of the .500 mark on the season with a 48-36 win over host Wauconda in a North Suburban Prairie Division contest Tuesday night. The victory for Lakes (8-9, 4-1) hiked its winning streak to a season-best three games.

"We're seeing a lot of good signs, learning lessons from some tough losses (earlier in the season)," said coach Chris Snyder, whose Eagles are 3-0 in January.

"We're hitting a hot streak," said Sage, who scored a game-high 14 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. "Our offense is definitely moving. We're starting to come together as a team, realizing what our strengths and weaknesses are. We're finally realizing that we actually can play with teams. We're not playing timid or scared."

Better news still for Lakes is that Jake Balliu could return to the lineup Friday night, when the Eagles visit Antioch. The senior guard has missed eight straight games since severely spraining his ankle a month ago. He took part in pregame warm-ups against Wauconda.

"To his credit, he's about a week and a half ahead of schedule," Snyder said. "That's just from him working his tail off."

Rohr, a 5-foot-11, 154-pound sophomore, was promoted to the varsity after Balliu got injured. Playing limited minutes coming off the bench against Wauconda, Rohr scored 7 points (two 3s) and grabbed 5 rebounds.

With time winding down in the third quarter, Rohr drained a long 3-pointer and was fouled, beating the buzzer. With no time showing on the clock, he sank the free throw to extend Lakes' lead to 38-28.

"He's earned his keep," Snyder said. "He'll be a good one for us down the line."

"He's definitely a player and he's definitely going to help us," Sage said.

After dropping 82 points on Grant a week earlier, Wauconda (9-7, 3-2) has failed to score 40 points in back-to-back games. The Bulldogs were coming off a 66-28 loss to Vernon Hills last Friday.

"I give both Vernon Hills and Lakes credit," Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager said. "Their defense definitely gave us some issues."

It didn't help Wauconda's offense that its two big men, 6-7 Ben Carlson and 6-6 Ricky Sidlowski, both sat a good chunk of the first half with 2 fouls apiece. Sidlowski scored all 8 of his points in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds. Carlson finished with just 5 points, although he did block 3 shots.

After Dan Stanley fed Sidlowski for a layup to get Wauconda within 43-34 midway through the fourth, Lakes milked about a minute off the game clock before finding Benett Haviland (10 points) for a wide-open layup.

"We were able to be patient with that one possession," Snyder said. "It was just a good overall sign of how that game went. I thought our guys battled. We struggled offensively in the first half (up 22-18 at the break), but defensively we kept it going."

Bryan Nee's 9 points on 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc led Wauconda. It doesn't get easier for the Bulldogs, whose next two games are Friday night contests at home against North Chicago and Libertyville, respectively.

"It's a tough stretch for us," Luetschwager said. "We're just trying to keep our heads up and keep working at getting better every day."