Vance helps extend Lake Park's postseason dance
Connor Vance stood tall in helping Lake Park earn its first boys basketball sectional title in school history Friday in the Class 4A Barrington championship game.
Vance, who is 6-foot-3 and the tallest starter on the Lancers' squad, scored a career-high 25 points as Lake Park rolled past St. Viator 58-39.
In its first-ever supersectional appearance, Lake Park (25-6) will meet Geneva at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center.
“There were a lot of teams in the 90's and 2000's that were close,” Lake Park coach Josh Virostko said. “The 2007 team was an unbelievable team, but things didn't work out. This is partly theirs, too.”
Vance made his presence felt on the inside. He had not played the post position until this year, his third-year on the varsity. He attacked the basket from the low post and gave St. Viator fits with his ability to get to the hole.
“I always had been the bigger guy until I got to high school,” said Vance, who finishing 9-for-10 from the field. “Not playing the big man my first two years on varsity, I had to step up in that role this year. My teammates found me when I was open and everything worked out.”
Lake Park, which did not convert a 3-point basket in its win over Palatine on Wednesday, was deadly from outside the arc on Friday. The Lancers finished 7 of 12 from 3-point range and were 6-of-8 in the first half.
“Other than Vance, we usually have to depend on that shot,” Virostko said. “In the 6 games we lost, we didn't shoot well. Wednesday night we were able to get past that, and tonight it came through.”
Especially for Danny Hynes, who nailed 4 triples to finish with 12 points.
Hynes, who didn't start Wednesday, competed in the 3-point shooting contest before the game and advanced downstate by draining 12 attempts. He continued that torrid pace to begin the game, nailing two 3-pointers in a row as the Lancers had an early lead.
“I just had it going,” Hynes said. “I was really feeling it, so I let it ride.”
St. Viator 3-point sharpshooter Pat McNamara then showed his range. McNamara nailed a trio of 3s and hit a driving reverse layup as the Lions (19-10) grabbed a 17-11 lead after the first quarter.
But that's when the vaunted Lake Park defense really stepped up.
“The second quarter talk, let's just say was a little animated,” Virostko said. “We just said that is not our identity and if we want win, we have to get back to doing what we do.”
And the Lancers, who have now held 21 of their opponents under 45 points, quickly reverted to form.They cooled off the Lions' shooting, holding St. Viator to just 2 points in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Lake Park scored the first 8 points of the quarter to lead 19-17. After a Viator basket on an offensive rebound by Danny Walsh tied the game at 19, Lake Park went on a 14-2 run to lead 33-21 on a 3 by Hynes with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
During the spurt, Lake Park forced 6 turnovers and limited the Lions to just 2-of-17 shooting from the field.
“We were knocking down shots early,” St. Viator coach Quin Hayes said. “Pat got hot and got us off to a nice lead.
“But after that they just buckled down defensively. We didn't make shots. You have to give credit to them. They took us out of everything we tried to run. And when we did get something good, we didn't make the shot.”
From there, Vance took over on the inside, scoring 21 of his points in the second half, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
“They started extending too far and we found all the cracks,” Vance said. “I happened to be the guy who got the ball.”
Cameron Van Aswegen, who hit a pair of 3-pointers, finished with 10 points for Lake Park, and Stefan Meccia had 6.
Sal Cannella, who had a monster game on Tuesday against Conant when he scored 33 points, finished with 10 points for St. Viator. Jake Stepuszek came off the bench to score 5 points.
Hayes, who was in his first year as head coach of the Lions, was proud of the way his team played all season.
“People had said that we were rebuilding this year,” Hayes said. “That we lost so much and that we couldn't compete. But our kids never thought that, and you have to give them all the credit in the world.”