Wolek sparks Crystal Lake South over Lakes

Struggling to find its offense, Crystal Lake South badly needed somebody to step up.

The Gators, who trailed Lakes by two points with a little over five minutes left in the second quarter, found that spark off the bench. Tommy Wolek jumped in and created two turnovers on defense, leading to two quick buckets.

The rest of the Gators started to follow Wolek's lead as South turned a two-point deficit into a 10-point advantage with a 12-0 run. The Gators never trailed again and handed the Eagles a 63-43 loss in the teams' second game of the Johnsburg/Richmond-Burton Thanksgiving Boys Basketball Tournament on Tuesday.

Wolek (6 points, 6 rebounds) only had two points in the first half. The senior's hustle was plenty enough to get the Gators on track.

"We talked about it in the locker room," Gators coach Matt LePage said. "Tommy Wolek was the catalyst to start our run. He plays physical. He's physical on the glass, and that's his game. He had a couple nice post finishes as well. It was really good to see that."

Senior Damir Glamoc started to hit his stride during the run, knocking down two of his five 3-pointers as South turned a 16-14 deficit into a 26-16 lead. Glamoc finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

South had a 32-16 advantage on the glass and shot 47.7% (21 of 44) from the field. Lakes shot 29.3% (12 of 41), with half of its field goals coming on 3s.

"We started to get a lot of second chances there, and that came from guys like Tommy and Ryan (Murtaugh) getting on the glass for us," Glamoc said. "We were swinging the ball around well and getting open shots."

South (2-0) led Lakes, 31-21, at half. The Eagles (0-2) never got any closer than nine points the rest of the way and were held to only five points in the fourth quarter without any made field goals.

"Against a good team like that, you can't go into some of those droughts that we did," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. "It's hard to catch up to a team that can shoot like that. We shot 13 or 14 3s in the first half. We needed to be more aggressive.

"South mixes it up. They do a good job with their length and their zone and man looks. That caused some poor decisions by us."

The Gators' defense created 19 turnovers by Lakes. Freshman guard Cooper LePage had 12 points for South, Tyler Miller had 8 points and two 3s, and Casey Haskin had 5 points. Will Stewart had 6 rebounds, and Isaiah Kirkeeng chipped in 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Lakes was led by Garrett Klein with 11 points and three 3s. Michael Gardner tossed in 8 points and two 3s, and Jake Sanders and Tyler Gunther had 5 points apiece.

LePage is encouraged by his team's 2-0 start. Getting significant contributions from players off the bench like Wolek doesn't hurt.

"I was just trying to bring energy to the floor," Wolek said. "Getting 13 second-chance shots, Damir is a good shooter; (Miller) is a good shooter. Everyone can score on offense. I just try to get us second-chance shots.

"Everyone in that locker room can play."