Healthy showing from Sage, Lakes

There's a sneaking suspicion that Ethan Sage is feeling a little better than was he leading on.

Sidelined with the flu, Sage missed Wednesday's game at Vernon Hills, a game in which the Eagles lost.

Two days later, the nose was still a little stopped up, but the senior guard quickly downplayed it.

"Feeling a little better, especially now," said Sage, who poured in a game-high 12 points in helping lead the Eagles past visiting Antioch 55-33 in North Suburban Prairie boys basketball action on Friday night.

"We worked hard this week in practice and especially on defense," said Sage. "And after two straight losses, we needed this."

The victory Friday night not only sewed up second place in the Prairie, it also assured Lakes of another winning season with only a road game at Warren next Tuesday, followed by regionals. The Eagles improved to 15-12 overall and ended up second in the Prairie at 9-3.

"The crowd was into it from the start but we came out slow in the first quarter," said Sage, who leads Lakes with his 17 points-per-game clip. "We made up for it and started out fast in the second half and with more intensity. And we pounded it on defense. It was definitely a total team effort."

Sage did most of his damage in the third frame, when he chipped in 8 of his points to help keep Lakes well ahead.

Antioch played hard and took some good shots but just couldn't get any of them to fall in the first half as Lakes held a 17-4 lead at the break. That included holding Antioch to just 1 point in the second period on junior guard Daniel Brito's free throw.

"It's always scrappy, and both teams really get after it when we play Antioch," said Lakes head coach Chris Snyder. "We did a good job scoring enough points and had good intensity on defense. It was good to bounce back after the two losses. This is the time we want to be playing well."

The first period was actually pretty ugly for both teams. Lakes shot just 3-for-15 from the field but more importantly held Antioch to just 1-of-8 in jumping to a 9-3 lead after the opening act.

The lone Sequoit bucket in the first was a 3-pointer by junior guard Trevor Koch.

While Lakes shot only 7-for-27 in the first half, the defense did its job in holding the Sequoits to 0-for-8 field goals in that second quarter and 1-for-16 through the first 16 minutes of play.

Lakes stayed the course in the third in jumping to a 32-10 lead.

Both offenses did show up in the fourth, scoring 23 points apiece. Senior guard Jake Balliu popped in 6 of his 9 points for the Eagles. Lakes also got some good free-throw shooting practice in, connecting on 15-of-20 in the fourth and 20-for-26 for the game.

Junior guard Brandon Dade led the Sequoits offensive charge in the fourth, scoring all of his team-high 9 points. And senior guard Josh Bell also got into the act, scoring all of his 7 points in the final period.

"We've been in a lot of our games but need to play sharp with regionals coming up," said Antioch coach Jim White. "We need to execute."

Lakes finishes up the regular season when it ventures to Mundelein Tuesday for an NSC crossover tilt.