Lake Forest nips Hersey

Now this looked familiar.

And so did that.

This was the way Hersey hustled and played tough defense on Saturday night. And that was the way Lake Forest did the same.

For eight years, Hersey coach Austin Scott mentored under Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala as an assistant coach with the Scouts before he got his shot at his own program. So no wonder the two teams played so similarly in their nonconference battle in Lake Forest.

And no wonder only the slimmest of margins separated the two teams, with the host Scouts getting a 50-49 win over Hersey.

"I think you can tell in watching this one that Phil and I have worked together before," Scott said with a smile after the game. "We emphasize a lot of the same stuff. There's a myriad of things I learned from him.

"Both teams played really hard, and this is not an easy place to come in and win. Every team that (LaScala) has ever coached is super prepared and super scrappy and super hardworking, just like he is."

Some "super scrappy" plays made a difference in this nip-and-tuck affair, and Lake Forest sophomore guard Cade Nowik was often in the center of them.

In the fourth quarter, there were three straight times in the final minutes that the undersized Nowik either got a big rebound over taller guys, or went horizontal to save a ball from going out of bounds. On one occasion, he strategically threw the ball off the leg of a Hersey player and it ricocheted out of bounds, giving Lake Forest the ball back.

"It's always good to give my team a shot," Nowik said. "I just wanted to try my hardest and do whatever I could to help my team win.

"Our heart helped us win it. That's what really helped us pull through here. And it's Alumni Night, so we were trying to make it fun for the crowd, too. This was a perfect way to end it."

The ending of this one was frenetic.

Lake Forest, which moves to 5-5 on the season, was up by 7 points early in the fourth quarter, but Hersey (3-8) slapped on some wicked traps to storm back and cut its deficit to just 1 point with 2:33 left. The Huskies went on a 6-0 run that included free throws by Ethan Roberts and Luke Martin and a big basket by Griffin Ginder.

Lake Forest never relinquished the lead, but the two teams went back and forth trading baskets until Hersey had the ball down 1 with less than 10 seconds to play.

Roberts had a good look at the basket on a runner, but his shot was off and Lake Forest held on.

"I had been getting some points in the paint, it had been working, so I drove in, but replaying it in my head now, I should have just pulled up. It's my fault," said Roberts, who was on point for much of the game and topped Hersey with 16 points. "I'll learn from it. But it hurts."

Martin and Ginder also finished in double-figures for Hersey with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Lake Forest was led by a freshman, 6-foot-4 guard Asa Thomas, who pumped in 16 points. Jack Malloy added 15 points while Stephen Young had 9 points and Nowik added 7 points.

"Cade (Nowik) had some huge (hustle) plays," LaScala said. "He's one of my favorite kids. I have him in class. He's an awesome kid in class, too. He plays with such a big heart.

"I thought we also did a great job of playing composed tonight, especially in the fourth quarter. They made some big runs at us and played some really good defense, and we handled it. They are obviously very well-coached. I thought (Scott) did an awesome job. He's going to be another really great coach in this area."