Lake Park's second-half surge sinks St. Viator
Lake Park boys basketball coach Josh Virostko was having a hard time at St. Viator watching his Lancers after they fell behind 42-21 with 2:08 left in the second quarter.
A 6-0 run by Lake Park to finish the quarter cut the margin to 42-27, but it didn't keep Virostko from giving a meaningful halftime talk.
"He called us out and challenged us to step up our game," said Lake Park guard Garrett Fant. "We weren't executing like we know we can."
Lake Park put together a 42-24 second half to beat the host Lions 69-66 in a nonconference game Tuesday night to improve to 7-5.
"On the road, it's tough to play," said Virostko. "If you're not ready, you're going to have to play real hard to win the game. We executed in the second half and good things began to happen for us."
The first half belonged to the 4-10 Lions, as almost everything went their way.
"We played good defense in the first half and executed our offensive game plan," said St. Viator coach Quin Hays. "In the second half they dictated the tempo and sped us up. They forced turnovers and got some easy transition baskets."
Fant (26 points, 6 rebounds) and Andrew Vega (13 points) each scored 7 points in the third quarter, and Diamonte Smith added 5 of his 11 points as the Lancers chopped 9 points off the lead to trail 54-48 going into the fourth quarter.
Vega scored on an assist from Smith to get Lake Park within 1 point at 56-55 with 5:43 left.
The Lions hit 5 of 6 free throws to take a 61-55 lead with 4:13 remaining.
Trailing 66-60 with 2:01 left following an offensive rebound basket by St. Viator's Addison Lubert, the Lancers made their final move.
Fant and Solomon Sangobowle each sank 2 free throws to make it 66-64 with 1:19 left.
Then Thomas Zakic tipped the ball in the front court and came away with a steal. Zakic was fouled by J.R. Cison with :51 left; Zakic made the free throw to finish a 3-point play for a 67-66 Lancers lead.
Andrew Soukup (11 points) tried a 3 for St. Viator but it missed, and Fant got the rebound. He was fouled an made both free throws before a halfcourt 3 attempt by Cison fell short.
"That steal and 3-point basket by Zakic were big," said Fant. "Coach asked at halftime which one of the younger players would step up, and Zakic did."
"Our bench really played well, keeping the starters fresh," said Virostko. "They contributed some points (13), which helped."
"We have to be able to execute better in the second half of the season," said Fant. "This was a big win for us, to come back from being down. It was a confidence-builder."
The Lions' second half should improve, too, with guard Marc Clark gradually improving from a football injury. The senior guard scored 11 points.
Lubert had a solid game in leading the Lions with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
"He had a nice game," said Hays. "We just weren't able to get him the ball as much inside as we did in the first half."