Lake Park's Myers ready for his chance against Batavia

Lake Park's Drew Myers didn't bother to hesitate before firing a pivotal 3-pointer late in the third quarter of Friday's DuKane Conference tilt against Batavia.

Locked in a grind-it-out boys basketball game in which every possession mattered in the second half, Myers chased down an offensive rebound and quickly grabbed the ball and raced to the corner. After failing to score in the opening 21-plus minutes, Myers drilled the open 3. A few seconds later, Myers drilled another 3 at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Lancers a 6-point cushion en route to a hard-fought 38-33 victory.

"I got the rebound and saw an opening and just pulled it," Myers said. "I felt my teammates had confidence in me after I hit the first one, so I tried another one. I felt I still had confidence in myself even though I hadn't scored before hitting those (3s)."

With the game tied at 26-26, Myers' back-to-back 3s proved to be the difference in the game. He finished with 6 points, while Trevor Montiel added 13 points and Joey Czaja finished with 10 for the Lancers (15-8, 4-4).

The Bulldogs (10-12, 3-5) received 12 points from Zack Weber and 11 from Jayden Johnson.

"We had some guys step up," Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher said. "Drew made two big 3s and two big hustle plays. It was a total grind game, just tough. We had to hit some tough shots. Drew's shots were huge. Without him we don't win this game."

The Lancers built a 23-15 halftime lead when Czaja scored 5 points and Montrell Perry added a basket and 3. Johnson, a junior guard, sparked a comeback with a baseline drive and two 3s to tie the game at 26-26 with 3:42 left in the third.

From that point both teams took a methodical pace by extending possessions with numerous passes. The two teams combined for 15 points in a 11-minute span until Czaja made two free throws with 39.2 left in the game. The Bulldogs did not score a point in the final four minutes.

"After Drew hit those two 3s, we knew we had to get defensive stops, so we locked down on defense," Czaja said. "As a team, we had great poise and moved the ball well."

Batavia coach Jim Nazos said his team played solid defense, holding the Lancers to 15 points in the final two quarters. The Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game in the final minute but missed a 3-pointer.

"We came back, but they hit a couple of big 3s," he said. "We just can't have a bad second quarter like we had. Lake Park is a solid team. They all share the ball well and are solid defensively. We had opportunities."