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Lakes' MLK tournament looks to be to-notch

Putting on a tournament at Lakes has been a goal of Eagles' boys basketball coach Chris Snyder for years.

Now Snyder can check that off his list.

The Eagles are hosting a Martin Luther King tournament this weekend involving eight teams - St. Viator, Niles West, Highland Park, Grayslake North, Naperville Central, Nazareth, and Waukegan.

"There are so many good MLK tournaments and we really wanted to get something going here, too," Snyder said. "I've always thought it would be a great thing for our program to host a tournament to get a few extra home games and to bring in some really good teams. We've got seven really good teams coming in here and I think that's good for the community and our school, too."

The MLK tournament at Lakes will play over the weekend and crown a champion on Monday.

All in the family: Two players on the Lakes basketball team have interesting family connections.

Point guard Jake Sanders is the grandson of former longtime Libertyville boys basketball coach Max Sanders, who coached for 20 years from 1979 through 1999 and won more than 300 games.

Sanders guided the Wildcats downstate twice, in 1991 and 1994. The 1991 trip yielded a fourth-place finish, the school's highest finish ever in the state tournament.

"Jake is doing a great job as our point guard and Jake's grandpa, that's a pretty cool thing. He's at every single one of our games," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. "I've thought that maybe I should even ask him to come sit on our bench and help coach."

Meanwhile, Aidan Sage is the younger brother of former Lakes stud athlete Ethan Sage, a three-sport standout about five years ago for the Eagles.

Ethan Sage, was the quarterback of the football team, a double-figure scorer in basketball and one of the best hitters on the baseball team.

"One of the great things about Aidan is that he's really improving this season," Snyder said. "Earlier this season, he didn't see many minutes, but instead of hanging his head, he just stuck with it and then he got some opportunities and he did everything we needed him to do and more."

Sage made his biggest impression when he scored 22 points in a nonconference game against Kenosha Bradford earlier this season. Now, he is starting and playing a ton of minutes.

"Aidan is 6-foot-4, he's got some size, he can shoot, and he runs the floor well," Snyder said. "He's become very stable for us."

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