Lake Park overcomes Waubonsie Valley

The Lake Park boys basketball team's 63-56 win Friday at Waubonsie Valley showed both what the Lancers and Warriors are capable of when things aren't going their respective ways.

Lake Park (3-3, 1-1 DuPage Valley Conference) won because it responded when Waubonsie's offense turned red hot in the second half.

The Warriors (2-4, 0-1) showed their ability to fight off a bad first half and take control of a game.

"This team could have quit on the road in the fourth quarter. But they didn't. They responded well," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko. "Tonight were two young teams with a lot of potential and inexperience."

The Lancers led by 14 to start the third quarter, but the Warriors evened the score by the end of the period. After a Lake Park timeout with the Lancers leading 40-34, Mark Rullo was left all alone underneath the basket and he converted. Brian Phillips then sank a free throw and Phillips then hit for a 3 at the buzzer to tie the contest.

Justin Mullinax scored 7 of his 10 points during the third, and Rullo made 9 of his 11 points in the quarter. Phillips scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the second half. Jaquan Bowman also had 10 points.

"Justin and Mark played their butts off getting to the open spots and finding guys," said Waubonsie coach Chaz Taft. "(The Lancers) knocked us back on our heels. They did a great job with their pressure, kind of like how we like to play. At halftime we made adjustments and battled back. But we have to learn to value possessions."

The Warriors shot 8 of 11 from the field during the third quarter.

Lake Park led 19-9 after the first quarter on 8-of-12 shooting and were ahead 33-19 at halftime. Kenny Bogus scored 15 of his game-high 28 points during the first two quarters. Virostko prasied Bogus' performance and believes the senior can continue to improve as the season goes on.

Bogus said that the key to holding off the Warriors was playing as a team and that's crucial the rest of the season.

"We need to keep getting better as a team and stay as a unit," he said. "We needed to do that tonight because Waubonsie amped it up in the second half."

Lake Park had two other scorers in double digits, Bailey Vance and Mitch Jarosinski each contributed 10.