Tucker's career-high 26 propel Lake Zurich past Maine East
The answer to the trivia question is Austin LePage with a free throw at the 4:48 mark of the third quarter.
What did LePage do get such an honor? He broke a string of points by his Lake Zurich teammates, Will Tucker and JR Cison. That's right, the halftime score on Monday night was: Tucker and Cison 36, Maine East 21.
"That's what shooters do, they shoot,'' Tucker noted.
Four 3-pointers went up in a hurry in the Lake Zurich gym - three by Tucker and another by Cison. At one point in the second quarter, Tucker led Maine East, 17-13.
Lake Zurich held serve easily. The Bears (5-14) handled Maine East, 69-49 in the opening round of LZ's MLK Tournament.
The Bears (5-14) will take on Glenbrook South at 1 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.
"Will has been right there,'' said Lake Zurich coach, Terry Coughlin of Tucker, who finished with a career-high 26 points. "We've been waiting for that break out game. But 21 in the first half was something."
Still to see two scorers do all damage in the first half was clearly something special. The second quarter scoring had Tucker with 13 points and Cison 8.
"My teammates got me the ball tonight,'' Tucker said. "And I kept that confidence going the rest of the game."
Lost in the domination of the two scorers was the performance of Matt McGraw. His quiet double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) stood out in the second half.
"Matt is a great athlete,'' Coughlin noted.
McGraw even managed to hit a 3-pointer in his 10-point third quarter run.
Cison played his usual strong floor game and finished with 24 points.
Maine East had a strong fourth quarter from junior Jonathan Serrano, who canned three 3-pointers and led the team with 13 points.
"We all have room for improvement,'' Tucker added. "But I think we are getting better. Tonight, I got some open looks."
Tucker finished with six 3-pointers. Cison added 4 more for the two-headed monster who stopped Maine East on Monday.