Lake Park earns edge in DVC
Sometimes it takes a halftime.
For Lake Park's boys basketball team, it took that little break to get back to what it does best - play stifling defense.
Limiting Wheaton North to only 6 third-quarter points, the Lancers pulled away to a 61-54 road victory to build a two-game lead atop the DuPage Valley Conference standings.
"In the first half we were getting lazy on defense, we weren't helping out on the back side," said Lancers senior forward Cameron Van Aswegen. "We got our intensity up and really got after it in that third quarter."
Lake Park (18-3, 5-0) let a 15-3 start to the game slip away when a second-quarter barrage - sparked by back-to-back Kar Reng and Nick Traversa 3-pointers - surged the Falcons (12-4, 3-2) to their biggest lead of 31-24 just before halftime.
The Lancers clamped down in the third quarter, forcing 8 turnovers while taking the lead for good at 34-33 on a Van Aswegen 3-pointer. By midway through the fourth quarter, Lake Park held a 50-41 lead on Christopher Filip's bucket.
Wheaton North managed only 10 second-half points before scoring 13 points in the final 2:30 of the game.
"Pretty much everything but the second quarter put us in a bind tonight," said Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann. "You really can't dig yourself a hole like that, but we fought back and played well for a stretch. Then we had a period of time where we did not deal with their pressure well at all, and that's something we'll have to improve."
The Falcons struggled with rhythm all night due to foul trouble to starters Nick Jordan, Traversa and Jake Heggeland. Even with constant lineup shifts Wheaton North managed to rally within 54-51 on Traversa's 3-pointer with 53 seconds left.
Lake Park, however, closed strong by knocking down 5 of 7 free throws in the final 47 seconds, including Filip's three-point play.
Van Aswegen led Lake Park with 16 points while Marcus McDaniel added 15 points before fouling out with 2:49 left. Traversa led the Falcons with 15 points. Jordan and Luke Anthony added 12 points apiece and Heggeland scored 11 points.
"The biggest thing I'm proud of is we overcame some adversity," said Lancers coach Josh Virostko. "The second quarter got adverse, for whatever reason. We could have folded on the road, but we regrouped and came back. That's what I'm most proud of."
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