Naperville North holds off Spejcher, Lake Park in overtime
In the end Naperville North was just too big and too tough Friday night. But in the beginning it was Lake Park's Daniel Spejcher who was putting on the brightest show.
The Lancers sharpshooter scored all 14 of his team's points as the visitors led the Huskies 14-13 after one quarter of play in Naperville. Spejcher went on to record a personal-high 27 points, but the Huskies still escaped with a 55-48 overtime win to stay unbeaten on the year at 8-0.
A steal and dunk by Spejcher had given Lake Park a 47-43 lead with a minute left in regulation, but the Huskies fought their way into an overtime session with a fast-break basket by Kevin Lang and then a layup by Tom Welch that tied the game following a Lancers turnover.
In the extra session Welch started things off with a tip-in and Naperville North never trailed again, going up 52-48 on Ryan Laurenzo's only basket of the night and then sealing the DuPage Valley Conference win as Hill made 3 of 4 free throws at the end.
"Lake Park is always an extremely tough matchup. They're always so scrappy. We had a little height on them, but they made up for it with good help (defense)," said Huskies center Chris Johnson, whose big night included 17 points and 18 rebounds. "They played amazing. We've just got to focus better. We had a few lapses and hopefully we clean it up for the Christmas tournament."
Johnson was impressed with the shooting of Spejcher, who had five 3-pointers on the night, including a trio in the first quarter. With the Lancers thinking upset, limiting their second chances was key.
"He was absolutely incredible. I feel like we were closing in on his 3s, but he knocked everything down," Johnson said. "The coaches always beat that into us. We've got to go hard to the boards every time."
Lake Park coach Josh Virostko, whose team is without two starters due to injury, felt the Lancers let a golden opportunity slip away.
"There's no moral victories," he said after Lake Park dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in the DVC. "I mean Naperville North's a great team.
"We had a chance to win, but we just didn't. The reason they're a great team is because they found a way and that's what great teams do. Maybe we learn from that. That's all you hope that you learn going forward."
Welch was plagued by foul trouble much of the night but had 17 points and 3 steals before fouling out in overtime. Another key for the Huskies was their pressure defense, which came up big late, forcing seven turnovers in the fourth quarter and four more in overtime.
"Our defense gave us a lot of energy. We started picking up the pace and we did finish off the game pretty well," said Hill, who along with Jared McIntyre, came away with big steals at critical points late in the game.
"Everybody was fired up," Spejcher said. "We were pushing the No. 10 team in the state to the edge. We just had a fallout at the end. At the start I felt hot. It was a good feeling. I had a good warmup, a good night's sleep and good food before the game."