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Slow start, and another loss, for Lake Zurich

These slow starts are beginning to mess with the Lake Zurich boys basketball team.

In the last three games, the Bears have fallen behind 7-0, 5-0 and Tuesday night, it was 15-3 against the visitors from Zion-Benton.

This time, Nick Meyer, caught fire in the third quarter and fired in five 3-pointers in that quarter alone. Zion's double digit lead was down to a single basket.

But Zion-Benton ended up adding to the Bears' losing streak with a 62-50 North Suburban Lake victory.

"It's like we come out with a blank slate to start the game,'' said Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher. "We should come out spitting fire but instead we are not aggressive."

Meyer (20 points) opened the scoring for the Bears with his first 3-pointer of the game. It would be the Bears' only lead of the contest at 3-2.

"We've had a couple of rough games,'' Meyer said. "We just need to get on each other to come out strong in the first half."

The Bears (16-7, 4-3) dug an immediate hole by scoring just 5 points in the opening quarter.

In the meantime, the Zee-Bees were getting contributions from several players. DeShawn Wilson (18 points) and Kienan Baltimore (15 points) were having their way both inside and outside.

"Our defense was terrible all night long,'' Pitcher said.

Nick Penny (18 points) beat the halftime clock by a second for a bucket, but the Zee-Bees' halftime lead was 30-19.

And then Meyer went into his 3-point shooting act as the second half opened. The senior had two of those 3s in the first minute.

"Meyer played a great game,'' Pitcher said. "He got super hot."

While Meyer dropped in five 3s in that quarter, teammate, Penny used the old fashioned 3-point play to add 6 points to his total in the 23-point quarter for the Bears. Meyer's last 3-pointer made it 44-42 with just more than a minute to play in the period.

"It was a long halftime,'' Meyer said. "So I came out shooting."

Michael Bens' steal and bucket cut the Zee-Bees' lead to 48-44 early in the fourth quarter. Zion responded with the fourth 3-pointer from Roderick Henry-Hayes and built the lead back up. Penny scored his team's last 6 points.

Lake Zurich will try and ends its three-game slide when it visits Warren on Friday night.

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