Lake Park shows it can win a close game
With little experience back from last season's sectional championship team, Lake Park is learning to win again.
The Lancers took a big step on Wednesday.
They held off Wheaton Warrenville South 41-40 in DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball action in Roselle, closing strong with a Bailey Vance 3-pointer and a trio of putbacks from Diamante Smith and Mitch Jarosinski.
It almost wasn't enough despite leading 41-38 in the waning seconds. WW South (4-2, 0-2) went to the line for three free-throw attempts to tie with no time remaining, but the middle one missed to put the result to rest.
"At halftime coach really got us going and told us to bring some energy out," Vance said. "We started off bad, but we started to get through it."
WW South began the third quarter with an 8-0 run, and opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 burst capped by Matt Dacy-Seijo's 3-pointer that moved the Tigers ahead 32-29 with six minutes left. Both times, however, the Lancers (4-3, 2-1) stormed back to the lead.
Vance and WW South's Jeran Simpson, who led the Tigers with 13 points, traded 3-pointers to keep the score tied at 38 with 43 seconds left. Smith's free throw gave the Lancers a 39-38 lead, then Jarosinski's putback made it 41-38 with 11 seconds left.
"Both teams had opportunities, and they took advantage of theirs and we didn't take advantage of ours," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "I thought our kids did some good things. We just struggled finishing a few times."
Kenny Bogus paced Lake Park with 11 points while Vance added 10 points.
The Lancers built their biggest lead of 16-11 just before halftime. WW South reclaimed the lead with its run to start the second half.
"We just didn't play a real disciplined game and we weren't real fundamentally sound," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko. "The thing we did is we stayed with it. Somehow we just found a way. Sometimes you get an opportunity and you have to seize it."
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