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Wheaton North guts out win over Lake Park

With nothing on the line in terms of conference races, Wheaton North and Lake Park still had plenty to play for in Wednesday's DuPage Valley finale.

At this point of the season, it's all about momentum.

Motivation in mind, Wheaton North ended the regular season on a positive note with a 51-44 victory over outright DVC champion Lake Park in Roselle.

"The last time they beat us on our home court and we really didn't like that," said Wheaton North senior Nick Traversa. "Our main focus this game was to come out and beat them and show them who we really are."

In addition to stumbling against Lake Park (21-6, 8-2) in the opening round of DVC play, Wheaton North (19-5, 7-3) suffered a costly loss to Naperville North on Friday. Combined with the Lancers' win last week, Lake Park unexpectedly claimed the outright DVC title a game early.

Lake Park struggled at both ends in Wednesday's rematch against the Falcons, shooting 37 percent from the field and making only 4 of 9 free throws. Tuesday marked only the seventh time this season the Lancers have allowed more than 50 points in a game.

"You look at our shooting and our free throws, you see where our head's at," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko. "Our head was not in the game. The guys weren't into the mode they needed to be in to win. Hopefully they learn from it. We'll see going into regionals."

Both sides took turns leading, but Wheaton North closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run and then Nick Jordan scored the opening bucket of the fourth quarter to give the Falcons a 42-33 advantage.

All nine players who saw court time scored for Wheaton North, led by Traversa's 16 points. Nick Jordan had 12 points and Jake Heggeland scored 10 points.

Marcus McDaniel paced nine Lake Park scorers with 11 points. Cameron Van Aswegen knocked down a pair of 3-pointers while adding 8 points.

"We wanted to respond after our disappointment Friday night," said Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann. "Being able to play a great team on the road and gut out a win is big. Any win over anybody is good momentum, but over them it certainly gives us some confidence going into next week."

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