Take-charge effort lifts Lake Zurich
Peter DiCerbo has worked on improving his defensive stance this year.
Specifically, the Lake Zurich senior has put a priority on getting into position to take charges.
His success in that endeavor Wednesday night showed up early in the second quarter, when Maine East's Kyle Gilani, a 6-foot 4 imposing post player, got called for charge on DiCerbo.
That kind of play provided a spark for the rest of the team as DiCerbo scored 8 of his team-best 14s point in the period.
The Bears ran away with a 50-38 victory over Maine East in Park Ridge in their opener of the Martin Luther King tournament Lake Zurich is hosting. Preliminary games in the event are at various sites, but the Bears will host the rest of the tournament on Saturday and Monday.
"I have not taken charges in previous years, but this year I've been really focusing on it," said DiCerbo, who also pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked a couple of shots. "I usually line up for a couple a game. I just try to take as many as a can. I think I have over 10 this year. It's been a big focus for my defense, to play the bigger guys. Coach (Billy Pitcher) says it's the biggest play on defense you can make because it gives them a foul, gives us the ball and it stops the game so we can set something up."
After DiCerbo's take-charge play, Lake Zurich produced a 12-2 run which put them up 25-13 at the half.
"Something about charges, it's representative of solid fundamental defense," DiCerbo added. "We were really good defensively in that quarter. That kind of play gave us a spark and it brought down their morale. It got (Maine East) out of their game and got us on a roll."
The Bears led 40-22 by the end of the third quarter as they continued with stingy defense and timely shooting.
JR Cison finished with 11 points and Ryan Kutsor chipped in with 8 and 7 boards for Lake Zurich (11-4, 1-0).
"I thought our defense was really good since (Maine East) scored 2 points in the second quarter and struggled in the third quarter," Pitcher said. "We were getting stops, and we were able to get fastbreaks and get easier shots."
Maine East (5-10, 0-2) was led by Ali Sabet with 14 points and Nathan Vangine with 11.
"(Lake Zurich) was a good team, but we did move the ball and got some looks," Maine East coach Dave Genis said. "We just couldn't get shots to fall. We know that we're better shooters. As we were missing, we fell further behind. We couldn't get any stops against them. Lake Zurich is a tough school to go against. They have pride in their sports and they have hard-nosed kids. They played hard and played well."
Lake Zurich returns to North Suburban Conference play at Stevenson on Friday night.