'Off' night as Round Lake falls short

Juddon was on fire and on his game.

Danny Uriostegui and Nick Lange were off off the basketball court.

Playing without starters Uriostegui and Lange, Round Lake nearly pulled off a victory nonetheless Saturday afternoon at Woodstock in its finale of the Hoops For Healing tournament.

Despite junior guard Juddon Carter's game-high 27 points, the Panthers fell to Woodstock North 54-48.

“As a team, we could have played a lot better,” Carter said. “We could have put more on the court, but the other team wanted it more.”

Uriostegui missed the game after injuring his ankle in the third quarter of Friday's loss to Marian Central. Before his injury, the point guard had played every minute of the young season.

“No excuses,” Panthers first-year coach Jim Roberts said after Saturday's loss left his team with a 1-3 record. “But Danny's a big piece of the puzzle.”

So is the 6-foot-5 Lange, who missed Saturday's game to attend a family funeral.

Woodstock North took advantage of Lange's absence, as the 6-5 duo of Zach Devore and Bobby Rakoncay each scored 9 points.

“Nick would have created a lot of havoc in the post,” Carter said. “He would have had a lot of rebounds and points in the paint.”

Woodstock North got big play from a small guy, too. Sam Schweder, a 5-7 junior, used his quickness to create havoc for Round Lake's ballhandlers. Schweder scored a team-best 17 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, helping the Thunder rally from a 35-34 deficit after three.

A putback by sophomore Mark Jennings (4 points, 7 rebounds) pulled Round Lake even at 45-45 with 3:11 left, but the Panthers got outscored 9-3 the rest of the way. Their only points came when Carter canned 3 free throws after being fouled on a 3-point try with 57.7 seconds left to cut Round Lake's deficit to 50-48.

But Woodstock North's Konner Boron (10 points) hit 2 foul shots, and a driving layup by Schweder sealed it.

“As a team, we just couldn't put it together as one (down the stretch),” Carter said. “We couldn't run our offense.”

Carter, whose point total was 2 off his career high, shot 6 of 15 from floor and 11 of 13 from the stripe. He hit half of his four 3-pointers in the final quarter.

“We have a lot of times when our kids will stand around and wait for Juddon to make a play,” Roberts said. “I don't think they did that tonight.”