Boys basketball / Lake County notes

Mounds of drifting snow.

Impassable roads.

Frigid temperatures.

The massive snowstorm that hit the Chicago area on Tuesday night couldn’t have been much worse.

But some basketball coaches have managed to find the silver lining in the snow days produced in its wake.

Most high schools in Lake County canceled classes on Wednesday and Thursday. That meant basketball practices were often canceled as well.

Now, in most cases, basketball coaches like practicing more, not less. But, sometimes, less really is more.

“For us, a day or two off right now is not the worst thing that could happen,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “In fact, it might actually help us a bit.”

Injuries and illnesses have started to pile up at Warren. Ramsey says his players were probably in need of some time off.

“These are the dog days of the high school basketball season,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got so many kids sick, banged up. We had three guys out of Tuesday night’s practice (before the storm hit). We had only 12 guys available.”

Senior guard Kendall Harris suffered a concussion last week in practice and is still trying to recover. Meanwhile, starting guard Brandon Ferguson and reserve forward Conner Bowcott were both out sick.

“I’m sure those guys appreciated the time off,” Ramsey said. “I’m sure all of our guys did. We pretty much left them alone and I know they liked that.”

As practice resumes, Warren will need to get back in sync fast. The 18-3 Blue Devils have two tough road games coming up: Friday at Libertyville and Saturday at Glenbrook North.

“Sometimes, when kids have a few days off for injuries or illness or whatever, they come back and struggle a little bit at first,” Ramsey said. “But that’s not always the case because, other times, I’ve seen them come back and play great.

“I’m just hoping that the rest and the time off will be good for us.”

Powerful Paul: Just a junior, Warren forward Darius Paul is already quite a physical specimen.

He is strong and cut, and he’s every bit the 6-foot-6 that is listed on the team roster. Just ask Mundelein. Paul muscled his way past the Mustangs for 19 points in a win last weekend.

“Darius is long and even stronger than he looks,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “He’s got really strong arms and hands and fingers and wrists and that allows him to do a lot with the ball. When he’s active inside and using his strength to get rebounds and make moves to the basket, that’s when he’s at his best.

“And right now, he’s still maturing and still growing. If he keeps working, he has such a bright future ahead.”

Game changers: Round Lake was supposed to play Rolling Meadows on Tuesday, but Mother Nature and her big snowstorm had other ideas.

Not that the Panthers minded.

They were in store for a busy week with three games in five days.

With the Rolling Meadows game rescheduled for Feb. 12, that gave them time for rest…and re-acquaintance.

Danny Uriostegui and Mark Jennings are trying to get back into a rhythm.

Both players missed a significant amount of time around the holidays and into January.

“More than anything, we need to get used to playing with Danny (Uriostegui) back in the lineup,” Round Lake coach Jim Roberts said. “Everyone who watches us says that we’re a different team with Danny in the lineup. We need to get used to being that team again.”

Uriostegui, the Panthers’ junior point guard, had been out since Christmas with a severely sprained ankle, which doctors initially thought had been broken. His first game back was Round Lake’s victory over Antioch last weekend.

“It’s great having Danny back. He had like 13 points, 6 assists and 3 steals against Antioch,” Roberts said. “The other good thing is that our other guys get to go back to playing the roles that they’re used to, guys like Teandre Brown.”

Brown, a junior guard, handled the point while Uriostegui was sidelined.

“Teandre did a really good job, but he’s more of a guy who attacks the basket instead of running the offense, so that took some adjusting for him,” Roberts said. “Now, he needs to adjust back to the way he’s used to playing.”

Meanwhile, Jennings is trying to get back to normal, too.

He missed some time due to disciplinary reasons but is back on track there and is now trying to catch up on the court.

“Mark is just a sophomore and he missed five straight games and that’s hard for a young player,” Roberts said. “He’s still trying to work his way back into things, but when he gets there, he’ll help us a lot.

“Mark brings a toughness to our team. You’d think he’d be overmatched inside as a sophomore, but he’s so physically tough and strong. We need that.”

Role player or role model? Guard Andy Cox doesn’t light up the scoreboard with beautiful shooting or impressive drives to the basket.

But the Lake Zurich senior is scoring points with his coaches in a lot of other ways.

In fact, even though he usually doesn’t score many points, Cox has been playing starter’s minutes. Mostly for his defense and ball-handling ability.

“Andy is kind of our shut-down player. We often have him guard the best player on the other team because he’s such a good defender,” Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. “Andy plays such tough defense that he really makes a guy work for every single thing he gets.”

Then there’s Cox’s ball-handling, perhaps even more impressive than his defense.

“Yeah, I’d say the biggest thing Andy does for us is the way he is able to handle the ball so well,” Pitcher said. “Turnovers have been our Achilles heel all season. We’ve really had trouble taking care of the ball.

“Some of our guards have 50 or 60 turnovers (through 20 games). Andy has 5. Literally 5. And he’s playing a ton of minutes for us.”

Pitcher says that Cox’s secret to stability is simplicity. He has perfected the fundamentals.

“People don’t get the ball away from Andy and it’s partly because he’s the strongest kid on our team. He probably weighs about 150 pounds, but he can bench 200 pounds,” Pitcher said. “But Andy’s success with ball-handling is also because he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. He does the little things, the things coaches are always preaching.

“Andy always has a triple-threat position going. He makes a lot of fakes. He works on his dribbling and passing. I mean, so many kids are out there working on dunks and three-pointers and big cross-overs. You’re not going to get on SportsCenter for a good triple threat. But the things that Andy works on…those are the things that coaches really appreciate.”

Pitcher says that he is so appreciative of Cox’s proficiency that he’s trying to figure out ways to get Cox more playing time. Maybe even a starting spot.

“I was just talking with my assistant coach about that the other day,” said Pitcher, who has started Cox seven times already this season. “Andy doesn’t score a lot, but it might be worth giving that up to get everything else he can give us.

“You know, Andy should be an inspiration to our kids on the lower level. It doesn’t always have to be about scoring. You can get a lot of playing time by being really good at the things that aren’t quite as glamorous.”

Bye, bye Jay-Jay: It took some time, but Jay-Jay Elvir’s sore knee finally caught up to him.

Elvir, a junior who started at point guard for Lakes, had been playing on a bum knee for most of the season. Last week, the pain got worse.

“His knee had been bothering him all season, but he still felt like he could play on it,” Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. “It got pretty bad last week so our trainer did some tests on it and told Jay-Jay that he’d better get it checked out by a doctor.”

Elvir’s doctors discovered that he had a torn meniscus ligament. He will be out until early March, which could make the injury season-ending depending on how far the Eagles are able to advance in the state tournament.

“This is such a big loss for us,” Snyder said. “The good thing for Jay-Jay is that this injury won’t require surgery, just rehab. But for us, it’s tough. Jay-Jay was an important part of what we do.”

Shifting gears: From scorer to ball-handler.

That’s the shift Lakes guard Tanner Blain is making to fill the void left by the loss of injured point guard Jay-Jay Elvir.

“Tanner is our leading scorer, so by moving over to point guard and handling the ball for us more, he’s probably going to be sacrificing a part of his game for the team,” Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. “He’s used to scoring a lot, not handling the ball on every possession and bringing the ball up the floor.

“But he’s our best option in this situation and he’s had a great attitude about it. He’s really accepted this new role and he’s doing a nice job for us.”

Points are over-rated: Points haven’t come very easily for the Lakes offense this season.

Then again, that hasn’t always mattered.

The Eagles scored just 38 points against Wauconda last weekend, hardly enough points to win on most nights. But by limiting Wauconda to just 22 points, Lakes not only won the game but set a new school record for fewest points allowed.

It was a mark that had just been re-set by the Eagles a couple of weeks earlier.

On January 15, Lakes gave up just 28 points to Libertyville in a defense struggle that ended with Libertyville barely on top. The Eagles scored 26 points.

“When we gave up just 28 points to Libetyville, I didn’t think we’d break that record for a long time,” Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. “And then we go out and allow just 22. It was a great defensive effort by our kids. Offensively, a lot of our shots just haven’t been falling this year. But defensively, I have absolutely no complaints.

“We’ve been very aggressive. We’re anticipating instead of reacting. We’re getting in the passing lanes and we’ve been working hard on our defense every day in practice. We make a lot of goals for our defense.”

The Eagles’ top defensive goal for each game is to limit the opponent to single-digit scoring each quarter.

Against Wauconda, the Eagles hit that mark twice. And with authority.

Wauconda was held scoreless in the first quarter and scored just 2 points in the fourth quarter.

“It’s hard to play that kind of tough, shut-down defense for an entire quarter,” Snyder said. “But I think our guys have bought into the idea that it works for us. We’re not scoring a lot of points, but our defense, when we play like that, can keep us in games and help us win games.”

Nate the Great: Since the start of the New Year, Lakes has won just three of its eight games.

But, during that time, the Eagles have hit some pretty big highs.

They staged one of the most impressive wins of the season in Lake County by beating North Chicago, which had won 43 North Suburban Prairie Division games in a row.

They also played very impressive defense. Lakes limited Libertyville and Wauconda to 28 and 22 points respectively.

Lakes coach Chris Snyder says it’s no coincidence that his team’s surges coincided with the return of senior forward Nate McMahon.

The 6-foot-4 McMahon had been out since the second week of practice. He hurt his knee and it was discovered that he tore his meniscus ligament.

McMahon underwent surgery in November. His first game back was the North Chicago game.

“Having Nate back has been a huge difference for us, especially on the defensive end,” Snyder said. “He’s a very physical defender. He’s always working for tips and steals. And he’s such a good rebounder.

“Nate just goes out and does the dirty work for us and I think he kind of sets the tone. A lot of other guys feed off of Nate.”

Grill master: Coaches don’t get much free time during the season.

So when Carmel coach Tim Bowen got a day without basketball Wednesday because of the snow, he took full advantage.

A fan of grilling, Bowen made sure that he not only shoveled out his driveway but that he shoveled out his patio, too. He wanted access to his grill.

“I saw this guy on TV, I think he was from New York, and he decided that he was going to spend his snow day grilling,” Bowen said. “I thought, ‘I want to do that, too.’ I had just bought some steaks. I was going to put them in the oven, but then I thought, ‘The heck with it. I have the time today. I’m going to grill.’

“The snow was pretty bad, but it was nice to get a break like this. It’s a long season when you get to this point and it’s nice to be able to do something fun like grilling.”