Lake Zurich enjoys winning reversal vs. Zion-Benton
There were two streaks that the Lake Zurich boys basketball team was intent on stopping Friday night.
Technically, the first really wasn't a streak. The Bears entered their North Suburban Conference home game against Zion-Benton on a loss. A single loss. They had dropped a league game to Waukegan seven days before, but were concerned about that one loss becoming more, becoming a streak, so to speak.
The second streak was actually a streak, and a little more notable.
"We were 0-for-4 against Zion-Benton. We had lost the last four games in a row to them. We hadn't beaten them in two years," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. "Zion-Benton had our number. They always play well against us."
The Zee-Bees played well again this time, but not quite well enough to keep their winning streak against Lake Zurich going.
The Bears were balanced and shot the ball well and knocked down free throws in the closing moments to hold off the surging Zee-Bees and get a 67-61 NSC win.
Lake Zurich, which started off the season 4-0 before losing to Waukegan, is now 5-1 on the season and 1-1 in NSC play.
"We've been really fired up all week after taking that first loss," said Lake Zurich forward Peter DiCerbo, who scored a game-high 23 points. "I think we had a great week of practice. We were really ready to go tonight. We were looking to push the effort. But we were still upset about the first loss.
"We knew we had to bounce back and couldn't hang our heads about the Waukegan game because we hadn't won a game against Zion-Benton the past two years. It would be a shame to come in here to our own place and take another loss."
DiCerbo played a big part in making sure Lake Zurich got off to a strong start. He scored 9 first-quarter points to help the Bears take a 20-11 lead into the second quarter.
A 6-foot-3 forward, DiCerbo showed his versatility by not only getting inside but also hitting multiple outside jumpers. He had one of Lake Zurich's seven 3-pointers on the game.
"Pete is a tough matchup because of his athleticism," Pitcher said. "He can score in the post, and his pull-up jumper is beautiful. He buried that three. We thought he had a great matchup tonight and he took advantage."
The Bears finished with a total of four players in double-figures. After DiCerbo, Ryan Kutsor had 13 points, JR Cison had 12 points and Will Tucker had 11 points on three 3-pointers.
"That's what we like about our team," Pitcher said. "We feel like we've got a lot of good options and a lot of balance and that we can get a good shot every time down because of our skills set."
Lake Zurich built a 14-point lead in the third quarter and a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, but each time, Zion-Benton rallied.
The Zee-Bees cut their deficit to 5 points with just under a minute remaining in the game, but Lake Zurich closed out with some free throws.
Zion-Benton got a team-high 19 points from Amar Augillard. He had four 3-pointers. Cortez Sawyer added 17 points and Anthony French finished with 11 points for the Zee-Bees.