Lake Forest adjusts, gets past Warren
One minor adjustment here, and a small tweak there made a big difference for Lake Forest on Tuesday night.
The Scouts changed up just a few things about their game plan at halftime and were able to turn a slim 1-point lead into a double-figure, 46-34 North Suburban Conference boys basketball victory over visiting Warren.
Lake Forest moves to 21-1 on the season and 9-1 in NSC Lake Division play.
"It came down to some things on defense," said 6-foot-8 Lake Forest center Evan Boudreaux, who will be playing at Dartmouth next year. "The second half, we did a much better job of settling down and doing what we needed to do defensively. In the first half, we were getting screened and giving up back cuts. We did a better job with that by changing things up and giving them some different looks."
Warren, down 25-24 at halftime, scored only 10 second-half points. The Blue Devils hit just 3-of-17 field goal attempts (17.6 percent) over the final two quarters.
"We went a little cold but you've got to give Lake Forest credit," Warren coach Ryan Webber said. "(Lake Forest coach) Phil (LaScala) did a great job of mixing in some zone on us, some box-and-one. Their length in that zone gave us some problems."
The Scouts boast not only big Boudreaux inside but also 6-foot-7 Lorenzo Edwards and 6-foot-7 Steve Vogrich. Warren had a tough time finding seams in the Lake Forest zone with all that length packed into the lane.
Meanwhile, Lake Forest made a conscious effort in the second half of getting the ball into the hands of Boudreaux more. He scored 13 of his 22 points after halftime.
Noah Karras added 9 points for the Scouts on three 3-pointers.
"We did a good job of getting the ball inside, and when we do that it makes it easier for us because that's where our bread is buttered," LaScala said. "We made sure at halftime to talk about it, that one of our big guys has always got to be touching the ball first (before a shot goes up)."
Lake Forest out-scored Warren 12-6 in the third quarter as Boudreaux pumped in 7 points. Then the Scouts tightened the defensive clamps even more in the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils scored only 4 points over the period and all of them came in the first two minutes.
Warren was shut out over the final six minutes of the game.
"Come off of our halftime meeting, I felt pretty good about things," said Warren forward Caleb Reams, who scored a team-high 11 points. "But they (Lake Forest) stepped up their game and we kind of just stayed the same. We needed to pick it up. Sometimes we panic. We just need to keep playing like a team."
Jake Falish added 9 points on three 3-pointers for Warren while Jovan Jokic finished with 8 points.