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Lake Zurich falls short against Lake Forest

The Lake Forest house of horrors has struck again for the Lake Zurich Bears boys basketball team.

On Tuesday night, the Bears, riding a 6-game winning streak, took on the Scouts. Another streak had Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher riding a 5-game losing streak in the Scouts building.

The night did not start well. The talented Lake Zurich sophomore team had a seemingly safe lead with 1.8 seconds to play. That's when Lake Forest point guard Jack Van Hyfte, launched one from half court. It banked in for a game-winner.

It's now six losses in a row for Pitcher's club in Lake Forest. The Bears (14-5, 4-2) used 3-pointer from Michael Benz to open up a 26-22 lead halfway through the third quarter. That's about the same time Lake Forest star Lorenzo Edwards (20 points) began to find the range.

Lake Forest (11-7, 4-3) held serve once again with this hard-fought 44-38 NSC Lake Division win.

"Their defense was so good,'' Pitcher said. "We had some looks in the fourth quarter but they didn't go in. We lost some close ones here."

Clearly, the player to watch on this night was the senior Edwards. After a low-scoring second quarter by both teams, Edwards had just 4 points.

Battling this power on this night was Lake Zurich's man in the middle, Andrew Gilbertson.

"You always have to know what Lorenzo is doing,'' Gilbertson said. "But this was a team effort. We played a tough game. But this is a tough atmosphere. They always have a big crowd and it's loud in here. We just didn't shoot that well tonight."

The Scouts scored the game's first seven points before Benz's 3-pointer broke the silence for the Bears. Seven straight points from Nick Penny closed the gap as Lake Forest took a 15-10 first quarter lead. Both teams' offense took the second quarter off. Lake Forest scored just 3 points. Ryan Kutzor (9 points) did all the scoring for Lake Zurich with a pair of 3-pointers. Lake Forest led at the break, 18-16.

"We defend our home court well,'' said Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala. "Guys on both teams hustled but both teams shot poorly."

Lake Zurich's third quarter lead vanished as Edwards took advantage of Gilbertson's foul trouble. He had 16 second-half points. Maybe his final basket was the most dramatic. A loose ball rolled right to Edwards. He took one step and dunked the basketball.

"That was huge,'' LaScala said.

Gilbertson's lone bucket of the game knotted this game up at 34-34 with three minutes to play. It was the last field goal of the night for the Bears.

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