Lisle wins third consecutive game

Saturday's nonconference boys basketball matchup between Lisle and Chicago Latin was a game of runs.

Fortunately for the Lions, they came up with the final one.

Rebounding from a 9-0 fourth-quarter spurt by the visitors, Lisle made enough plays down the stretch to pull out a 50-47 victory and run its winning streak to three.

"They switched up their defense and went to a trap zone," said senior guard Ryan Gillen, who led all scorers with 14 points. "We couldn't really get to the basket and we couldn't make a lot of shots from the outside. But we knew if we could clamp down on defense, we could pull it out."

With the score knotted at 42, Mark McGrath hit a free throw with 4:09 on the clock to give the Lions the lead for good. A pair of baskets by Josh Jamison and a hoop by McGrath helped increase the margin to 6 before the Romans connected on a 3-pointer with 42.1 seconds left. Latin then had a chance to tie but missed a 3-pointer before following up the offensive rebound with a turnover.

The visitors led 23-15 after the opening eight minutes and upped that advantage to 29-20 midway through the second quarter. Lisle then responded with a 20-2 run that carried over through halftime. McGrath had 7 points over that span and Gillen chipped in with 5.

"We just had an edge," Gillen said. "With our team we are small but we have fight. Everyone can score so nine points doesn't seem like that big of a challenge for us. We know we can score 9 points in four minutes. And we played good defense."

McGrath finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds and Jamison added 10 points off the bench.

"Early on, they were getting second and third opportunities and they made the most of them," Lisle coach Mark LaScala said. "We got on our guys about finishing the defensive possession. We give up a lot of size and it takes a special effort to secure a rebound. We got that after giving up 23 points in the first quarter and I thought that was a huge difference."

Truman Faversham topped Latin with 11 points and Isaiah Freeman had 10.