Sage, Lakes hang on against Richmond-Burton
The Lakes High School boys basketball fans took a collective sigh of relief before exploding with jubilation in Class 3A regional final action on their home court.
Their Eagles had just survived a 3-point attempt that rimmed out, followed by a rebound and missed bunny at the buzzer that helped preserve a thrilling 38-36 victory over Richmond-Burton on Friday for the school's third regional title since opening its doors in 2004.
"This feels great because they got us last year in the regional semis and we knew they we're going to be a little cocky," said Lakes senior Ethan Sage, who had a lot to do with how things turned out. "We tried to block down low on their big guy and we worked the ball well on offense."
After his scoring spree over the first three quarters that netted him 21 of his game-high 23 points, Sage showed why he's been the Eagles' leader all year long.
When things got a little chippy in the last minute of regulation, Sage was mauled and quickly pulled back and calmed down by his teammates before anything could escalate. And as cool as the other side of the pillow, his final 2 points of the game came on 2 free throws that kept it a two-possession contest and Lakes ahead 38-33 with just 38 ticks left on the clock.
"He's our go-to guy and I can't say enough about his leadership," said Eagles fifth-year head coach Chris Snyder, whose fifth-seed team improved to 17-14 and will play Vernon Hills in a sectional semifinal at Vernon Hills at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Sage had the Eagles soaring right from the get-go, slicing and dicing and knifing his way through traffic in the paint. He ended up scoring all 8 of his team's first-quarter points.
Sage then pumped in 10 more points in the second quarter, while running mate senior guard Jake Balliu's steal and layup with 10 seconds left in the half put Lakes ahead 26-18. Balliu also drained a 3 earlier in the period and finished with 8 points.
"It was important that we got off to a good start," said Sage. "None of this would be happening if it weren't for my teammates."
Richmond-Burton made a game of it by outscoring Lakes 12-4 to knot everything up at 30 after three periods.
The fourth-seeded Rockets (22-6) actually took the lead at 33-32 after their big guy, 6-foot-8 center Joey St. Pierre, hit a layup with 5:13 left. St. Pierre finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead Richmond-Burton.
That Rockets lead was short-lived, though, as not even a minute later junior forward Colton Jewell's jumper gave the lead right back to Lakes for good at 34-33.
Lakes senior forward Dalton Solbrig has been nursing an ankle sprain sustained a couple of weeks ago. Still, according to Snyder, his presence was big tonight, especially when it came to helping guard St. Pierre. Solbrig finished with a bucket and a few boards in limited action.
"I'm so proud of the guys and how they've stuck it out," said Snyder, whose team started the season 2-6 and were 5-9 at one point.