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Lewis enjoys big finish to big week

A big week for Mitch Lewis got a little bigger Friday night.

Lewis followed up his 22-point effort in Tuesday's win over Wheaton North with a 21-point performance Friday against visiting Lake Park to lead the Huskies to a 52-46 victory, their 10th straight.

In between the 6-foot-6 Daily Herald All-Area tight end committed to Miami of Ohio for football.

However, basketball was foremost on Lewis' mind Friday.

"We lost to them at their place and honestly, that was probably the worst feeling that I've had playing basketball here from freshman year on," Lewis said. "There was so much anger built up. I was just ready to play this game. Everybody was. We had so many reasons to go out there tonight (and win)."

Naperville North (16-4, 9-2 DuPage Valley Conference) led 13-10 at halftime and 19-14 midway through the third quarter before Lake Park took its first lead at 21-20 on a basket by Andrew Vega.

However, the Huskies countered with a 12-1 run over the final two minutes of the quarter to build a 32-22 advantage.

"We just knew we had to pull away," Lewis said. "Tommy (Welch) came up with some big baskets, Winston (Elston) and Youcef (Merabet) handled the ball in clutch moments, and Chris (Johnson) made some big free throws. Everybody did a great job."

But Lake Park (10-11, 5-6) would not go away. Three-pointers by Garett Fant and Jake Hlanik were part of a 15-6 run that got the Lancers within 42-39 with 2:33 remaining.

Naperville North's lead might have been even smaller had not the Lake Park bench been whistled for a technical foul for a comment that appeared to come from a student seated behind the Lancers' bench. Shwetabh Tarun converted both free throws for the Huskies.

"I've gotten technicals that I've owned." Lake Park coach Josh Virostko said. "That one I didn't get a chance to own. But that's not what cost us the game. We had chances early to get up, but we had trouble offensively. We settled down offensively, but defensively we had some letdowns.

"We played well, we just got to make more plays and not allow runs like they had in the third quarter," he added. "Eliminate that and make more plays and you win the game."

Two free throws by Johnson extended Naperville North's lead to 44-39 with 2:10 remaining, Lewis answered Lake Park's Diamante Smith with a nice move in the lane and a pair of free throws by Tyler Carlson with 24.5 seconds left pushed the lead to 50-43.

"Mitch calmed down in the second half," Naperville North coach Jeff Powers said. "He wanted to do it all himself in the first half. When we move the ball around and get him on an island, he is unstoppable."

Fant had 18 points and Vega added 14 for Lake Park, while Johnson finished with 10 points for Naperville North, which has not lost since the quarterfinals of the Jack Tosh Christmas Tournament at York on Dec. 27.

"I'm not even thinking about that (streak)," Lewis said. "Every game is a new game. I made my college decision. I'm stress free. I'm just trying to play basketball and enjoy the rest of my senior year."

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