Streak-aware Lakes gets it done

Before stunning North Chicago last weekend, Lakes coach Chris Snyder not only worked his players in practice, he also gave them homework.

He asked them to do some research on the Internet.

About winning streaks.

The Eagles were about to play a North Chicago team that had won 43 straight North Suburban Prairie Division games. Snyder wanted his team to research two other big streaks that had recently been in the news: the 88-game winning streak of the UCLA men's basketball teams of the 1970s and the 90-game winning streak of the current Connecticut women's basketball team that surpassed it.

“I didn't want to (downplay the North Chicago streak), I wanted us to embrace it, especially because I saw some potential similarities between those other streaks and the North Chicago streak,” Snyder said. “Our guys ran with it.”

The Eagles discovered that UCLA's streak started after a loss to Notre Dame in 1971 and ended with a loss to Notre Dame in 1974. The Connecticut streak started after a loss to Stanford in 2008 and ended with a loss to Stanford just last month.

Snyder dutifully pointed out that the last team to beat North Chicago in the Prairie Division before the start of its streak was Lakes during the 2006-07 season.

“It was just too coincidental to pass up, I had to bring it up,” Snyder said. “I said, ‘We could do (what Notre Dame and Stanford did), too. We could either be another victory in North Chicago's streak, or we could be on both ends of the streak.”

Word quickly spread through Lake County last Friday that Lakes wound up being the latter.

The Eagles edged North Chicago, 68-66, watching in joyous relief as the Warhawks missed a halfcourt shot at the final buzzer that would have won the game.

It was the one thing that didn't go North Chicago's way in the final minutes. The Warhawks used hot shooting to nearly erase a 10-point Lakes fourth-quarter lead.

“It was such a good feeling when that horn finally went off,” Snyder said. “They kept coming back and coming back on us, but we hung in there.

“It was cool to see our fans rush the court and have fun with it.”

And then there was one: Lakes' monumental win over North Chicago last weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

The Eagles had been hurting. They began the season by stumbling hard out of the gates, losing eight of their first 10 games.

Not that the slow start was a complete surprise, though.

Before the first tip of the season, Lakes coach Chris Snyder was forced to reconfigure much of his lineup because of injuries and, of all things, transfers.

Last year, three promising sophomores were promoted to the varsity: Tanner Blain, Donte Arnold and Deondre Hudson. All three played heavy minutes as the season progressed and all three were projected to be starters again this year.

But now, only Blain, who scored 24 points in the win over North Chicago, remains.

Hudson's family moved to Indiana during the offseason and Arnold, who began the school year at Lakes, just recently moved to Woodstock with his family.

“I coached those three guys as freshmen,” said Snyder, who was an underlevel coach in the program before being named head varsity coach last spring. “We knew they were going to be really good and we were looking forward to them playing on varsity. But what are you going to do? These things happen.”

Injuries also happen.

Snyder says his team got some good news recently when Nate McMahon returned to the lineup. The 6-foot-4 forward had been out since the first week of practice when he tore the meniscus ligament in his knee.

That also caused changes to Snyder's plans.

“He's 100 percent now and it's really nice to have him back,” Snyder said of McMahon. “He had 11 points (against Hoffman Estates) on Tuesday and he was hustling all over the place and doing a lot of important things inside like rebounding and playing good defense.

“We've needed another big body inside. It's really helping us to have Nate back.”

Lakes started the season down a big body when 6-foot-8 junior center Justin Schneider went down in presesaon practice with a season-ending back injury.

Bring it on: The good times kept rolling.

Last Friday night, the players on the Grant basketball team were hanging out in their locker room, enjoying the win they had just gotten on the road at Antioch. Who knew their night was about to get even better?

“Someone came in and told us about Lakes beating North Chicago,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. “Then came this collective scream from our guys.”

Lakes' stunning win over North Chicago ended North Chicago's 43-game winning streak in the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division. With Lakes scheduled to play them the very next night, the Bulldogs knew they had a great opportunity to make some headlines of their own.

They could knock off the team that knocked off North Chicago.

“Once they heard about the North Chicago game, our guys just couldn't wait to get our game against Lakes started,” Bosworth said. “They realized that Lakes' win over North Chicago put us back in the race for the division title and that we had a great opportunity playing Lakes the next day. They were pumped.”

Grant wound up bursting Lakes' bubble, handing the Eagles a 51-49 loss about 24 hours later.

The Bulldogs are now tied with Lakes in the Prairie Division. Both teams are nipping at the heels of leaders North Chicago and Vernon Hills.

Grant's best finish in the Prairie Division was in 2003. That year, behind stars Andrew Wynn and CJ Walleck, who is now coaching the freshman team at Grant, the Bulldogs shared the title with Zion-Benton.

Wrangling the Warhawks: So just how did Lakes finally crack North Chicago?

It's a question likely on the minds of many, considering North Chicago was a team that hadn't lost a North Suburban Prairie Division game in 43 tries before falling last Friday in Lake Villa.

Grant coach Wayne Bosworth had scouts at the game since his team was scheduled to play Lakes the next night. He believes he knows Lakes' secret.

“What Lakes did is what we've been preaching to our guys for years every time we play North Chicago,” Bosworth said. “They limited North Chicago to one shot and out.

“North Chicago is an excellent offensive rebounding team. They get a lot of points off putbacks. But against Lakes, they were missing a lot of shots, a lot of jumpers and Lakes got the rebounds.”

Earlier in the season, Grant suffered a 109-99 loss to North Chicago and offensive rebounding was the difference in that game.

“It was really close in the first half, but in the third quarter, it just got away from us,” Bosworth said. “We had no one crashing the glass and for like a two-minute stretch, they got putback after putback. They've got such great athletes and if you don't box out and win the rebounding battle, you're not going to win the game. Lakes was able to do that.”

Step right in: Losing two starters isn't good news for any team.

But Grant has weathered that storm fairly well, thanks to the clutch play of reserves Allen Lewis and Ilya Kadushin.

They've stepped in for starters Kyle Lombardino and Sean Wells and the Bulldogs haven't missed a beat. In fact, Grant has won two of its last three games.

“Allen has had double-figures in back-to-back games and Ilya has given us a physical presence inside. He's been rebounding well and playing tough defense,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. “It's nice to know that when you have a couple of starters out, you have some guys who can fill in those spots.”

Bosworth says that Lombardino, who was injured, and Wells, who was sitting out for a disciplinary issue, will be back in the lineup soon.

Super streak: The records are piling up at Mundelein.

The 18-2 Mustangs are off to their best start in the seven-year tenure of head coach Dick Knar. They're also enjoying their longest winning streak over that stretch.

Heading into Saturday's North Suburban Conference crossover against North Chicago, Mundelein has won 12 straight games. And some of those victories have come at the expense of some of the best teams in Lake County.

The Mustangs have beaten Stevenson, Libertyville and Zion-Benton over the last month. Last weekend's win at Zion-Benton was Knar's first ever in that gym.

“There's no question that win was really big for us,” Knar said of the Zion-Benton victory. “We were already starting to see that ‘Hey, we can beat those kinds of teams, even on the road. Now, that belief is just getting stronger and stronger.”

Answering the call: Early in the season, guard Robert Knar and center Ryan Sawvell were carrying a bulk of the scoring load at Mundelein, and head coach Dick Knar was worried.

He liked the approximately 20 points per game he got out of each of his superstars, but he was worried that the Mustangs might be in a pickle if either one had an off game. After all, Mundelein wasn't getting a significant amount of scoring out of anyone else.

Knar kept saying he needed someone else to contribute.

Well, he wound up getting a bunch of different someones, which has a lot to do with the Mustangs' current 12-game winning streak.

“We've had a lot of other guys step up,” Knar said. “(Point guard) Leavon Head has been more consistent, Dickie Knar had 9 points and 4 assists in our win over Zion-Benton, we've been getting great defense out of Charlie Gandolfi and Jordan Wiegold and Sean O'Brien have been taking more shots and playing with confidence.

“Ryan and Robert still continue to play at a very high level, but we've also found a lot of other ways to score and win.”

What a trip: Mundelein has taken full advantage of the IHSA's elimination of a rule that used to limit travel distance for competition to 500 miles.

Five years ago, the IHSA gave teams the right to travel anywhere for competition and every year since then, the Mustangs have racked up the air miles for trips that coordinate with their holiday break.

They've gone to Arizona and San Diego twice each and Washington D.C once.

This year, the Mustangs went to San Diego, where players coaches and parents enjoyed the sun, beaches and even a side trip to Hollywood.

They also enjoyed the chance to hang out with one of their biggest supporters.

Each year, head coach Dick Knar makes room in the travel party for Jim Ackley.

Ackley is Mundelein's scorekeeper. Has been for 48 years. The 80-year-old Ackley has been keeping Mundelein's book since 1962.

“He goes with us every year because he's a big part of our team,” Knar said. “Every year, we pay for him and every year he gives the money back to us in a donation for the program. Jim is just so great like that.”

Knar says that Ackley's stories are even better.

“It's amazing to hear him talk about basketball in this area and about the history. He's seen so many games, so many players come through,” Knar said. “I love history. I could listen to him for hours. I know our kids love that, too.

“Sometimes, Jim will talk to the kids in the locker room. He'll tell them how lucky they are and how they need to cherish every moment.”

Double trouble: He was close against Grayslake Central this week.

But David Sparks' 8 points and 8 rebounds didn't quite get him the double-double he's been used to.

The 6-foot-6 Grayslake North center has been pouring in the points and racking up the rebounds in recent games. In fact, in four of the Knights' previous seven games, Sparks had recorded double-doubles.

“And there was another game during that stretch where David had like 22 points and 9 rebounds, so he just missed a double-double there,” Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. “He's just been killing it lately. He's had a lot of 17 to 20-point games and 10-rebound games. And when we played Woodstock, he had 17 points and 17 rebounds. He's been doing a great job.”

Still waiting: Patience is growing thin at Grayslake North.

At least it is for head coach Todd Grunloh.

His team lost to rival Grayslake Central this week, marking the ninth time in nine tries that the Knights have come away with a defeat in that game.

“It's hard to be 0-9 against Grayslake Central,” Grunloh said. “But to be honest, I think it hurts me way more than it hurts our guys. Our guys haven't been around for all those games, plus, they're just very loose about things and they don't put a lot of pressure on themselves.

“In the past, we've had kids who have put a lot of pressure on themselves because they wanted to be part of the team that makes something more of this program. They wanted to be the team to change things. But this group has been different in that way. If they make a mistake, they're already moving on to the next play.”

Grunloh thinks the Knights are simply following the example set by their leaders.

“I think teams take on the mentality of their leaders and two of our top leaders, Teddy Ludwick and AJ Fish, really epitomize this idea about not falling to the pressure,” Grunloh said. “Nothing rattles those guys, whether they miss a free throw or an easy layup, and I think it helps the rest of our guys to see that.”