Sturdy Stonis helps Wauconda past Round Lake

Consider it inadvertent payback. Which, truthfully, didn't make Round Lake feel any better.

After hitting the Panthers with his best half of basketball this season, Wauconda guard Jarod Stonis took one for the team.

The 6-foot-1 junior took a charge, with his midsection taking the brunt. His defensive play gave the ball back to Wauconda with 10 seconds left in the second quarter.

"I got hit right in the gut and it knocked the wind out of me," Stonis said.

As an achy Stonis sat on the bench, Bryan Nee buried a short jumper and Wauconda went into halftime up 13 points en route to a 66-60 win in Marengo's 66th annual E.C. Nichols Holiday Classic on Monday.

Stonis knocked down three 3-pointers in the opening half, scoring 15 of his season- and game-high 21 points.

"I had a lot of guys, like Bryan Nee, dishing (the ball), and the posts were kicking it out," Stonis said. "Overall, it was a good team win."

Just wait until later this season when Wauconda (3-5, 1-1 tournament) and Round Lake (2-9, 0-2) play each other twice in North Suburban Prairie Division action.

"Two more games with them, it's going to be a battle," Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager said. "It's not going to be easy, that's for sure."

While Wauconda never trailed, Round Lake refused to quit even after the Bulldogs went up 49-37 early in the fourth quarter when Danny Stanley fed Kyle Drobnik (9 points) for a layup.

Even after Drobnik sank a free throw to make to make it 62-56 with 36 seconds left, Dallas Soto scored for Round Lake to cut the Panthers' deficit to 4. Dylan Latiolais kept Round Lake at bay by hitting 4 of 4 free throws for the Bulldogs in the final 28 seconds.

Wauconda led 35-22 at halftime but saw Round Lake open the third quarter with an 8-0 run before a 3-pointer by Parker Fink ended that.

"We didn't quite have the first half that we wanted," Panthers coach Jeremy Fisher said. "We came out a little flat, and defensively we weren't as good as we hoped to be. We changed a couple of things at halftime and in the fourth quarter definitely brought the energy that I was hoping to see in the beginning of the game."

Round Lake did a better job in the second half of recognizing where Stonis was on the court and getting a hand in his face. Then in the fourth, the Panthers got a spark from Juquwon Morens.

A 5-9 junior, Morens did not become academically eligible until the start of the tournament. He scored 5 points, hitting a pair of shots from the floor, and grabbed 4 rebounds, including a pair on the offensive end.

Morens' free throw trimmed Round Lake's deficit to 53-50 and capped a 6-0 run with 3:22 left in the fourth.

"He's an energy guy," Fisher said. "He's definitely athletic. He can run all day long. He was able to put pressure on the ball, and that's what we need."

Stonis scored 6 points in the fourth, going 4 of 4 from the stripe in the final 1:42.

"We know we can get offense from him," Luetschwager said of Stonis, whose older brother Scott, contributed 2 points and 3 rebounds in the win. "He picked his moments (in the first half) very well."

Round Lake guard Michael Green scored 14 of his team-best 20 points in the fourth. Zach Kuligoski added 17 points and 7 rebounds for the Panthers.

Latiolais and Fink scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Wauconda. Nee chipped in 6 points, and the 5-8 guard grabbed 8 rebounds.

"It was a good game," Stonis said. "We came out swinging and got it done."

The tournament resumes Tuesday, with Round Lake facing Carver at 10:30 a.m. and Wauconda playing Woodstock North at 1:30 p.m.