Penny saves the day as Lake Zurich earns a victory
Nick Penny's new mask never budged.
And down the stretch, Lake Zurich's boys basketball team held firm too, protecting its single-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter before closing out a 40-35 win over visiting Lake Forest in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division opener Friday night.
The victory for Lake Zurich (4-2) snapped a 10-game losing streak against Lake Forest, which never lost to the Bears during the four-year varsity run of star forward Evan Boudreaux.
"They've been kicking our butt for a while," Penny said of the Scouts after shooting 6 of 11 from the field and scoring a team-high 14 points. "We were very aware of that, so it feels really good to finally get them."
Penny wasn't feeling so well earlier in the week.
During practice Tuesday, he suffered a broken nose doing what he always does - going hard for a rebound. An errant elbow caught him in the face.
"I didn't even think it was broken, at first," Penny said.
So, he kept practicing.
"He's such a tough kid," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. "It didn't faze him."
After practice, Penny actually went to the YMCA to shoot some more. After his nose started bleeding, he finally went to the emergency room.
"It's not that big of a deal," Penny said. "It's just annoying that I have to wear the mask."
The protective mask didn't seem to affect him against Lake Forest, which got a dominating performance from Lorenzo Edwards (20 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocked shots). Penny dazzled at times with his behind-the-back dribbling and showed off a sick move with the Bears clinging to a 26-23 lead late in the third quarter.
Penny shook his defender, who stumbled and fell backward, before sinking a step-back 3-pointer.
His mask never moved, despite his shaking and baking.
"Coach Pickens has been working with me on that," said Penny, referring to assistant coach Chris Pickens.
"He's quick," Pitcher said of his senior guard.
Edwards nearly single-handedly kept Lake Forest close, dominating at both ends of the court. The 6-foot-7 senior sank 10 of 15 shots, showing long range on his jump shot in addition to plenty of athleticism in either lane.
"I don't know if Edwards took a shot where there wasn't somebody between him and the basket," Pitcher said. "He still made a lot of them, but we had the position there defensively."
Lake Zurich took a 29-23 lead into the fourth quarter and was up 38-31 after a drive by Penny. But Edwards' steal and layup and Matt Begley's sweet dish to a cutting Ryan Kitchel cut the Scouts' deficit to 38-35 with 1:46 left.
Lake Zurich's Brett Hensley hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:06 left, and the Bears survived a couple of missed free throws in the final half minute to pull out the win.
Hensley scored 8 of his 10 points in the opening quarter in helping Lake Zurich take a 12-11 lead. Michael Bens also scored 10 points for Lake Zurich, while Nick Meyer grabbed 10 rebounds.
Edwards scored 8 of Lake Forest's 12 points in the fourth.
"He was really tough tonight," Pitcher said. "I don't know what else we could have done on a couple of those shots."