Despite Tolari's touch, Lakes vanquishes Vernon Hills

Like every shooter in the gym, Vernon Hills guard Tanner Tolari was due for a good bounce.

Then they came in a flurry.

Twice, as the Cougars were trying furiously to rally in the fourth quarter against visiting Lakes, Tolari fired up a 3-point shot that bounced high on the rim multiple times before falling through the basket.

"You rarely see that, let alone twice in a row," said Vernon Hills assistant coach Colin Mason, who was running the team with head coach Matt McCarty home with the flu. "I was thinking to myself, 'We're owed a few by the basketball gods.' "

The ball has been bouncing Lakes' way recently, however, and outside of an injury to point guard Kyle Rohr, the Eagles' good roll continued Wednesday night, as they won 52-44 in North Suburban Prairie Division action.

Up 15-10 after a deliberately played first half, Lakes created some more separation by outscoring Vernon Hills 15-11 in the third quarter, before Tolari heated up in the fourth to keep the Cougars in it. The second quarter was not memorable for either team, as each scored just 3 points.

The second half yielded better offense.

"We've been a second-half team," Eagles coach Chris Snyder said. "It seems like we've had a lot of games where it's like, 'Are we going to score or not his quarter?' But at least we're defending, so it's keeping us in games."

Lakes (11-9, 4-4), which doesn't play again until next Tuesday at Wauconda, finishes January with a 6-2 record. After his team played its eighth games in 23 days, including three in the last six, Snyder announced to his players that he was giving them the day off Thursday.

"All of us started cheering," Lakes forward Colton Jewell said. "It was a great win, and it's good that we don't have practice (Thursday)."

Jewell had 16 points and 6 rebounds, while Jordan Mercure also scored 16 points, 10 coming in the fourth quarter.

"I thought Jordan stepped up and did a great job," Snyder said of his senior, who shot 4 of 6 in the fourth and 2 of 2 from the line.

Rohr (5 points, 5 rebounds) injured his left knee late in the third quarter and did not return. He left the gym on crutches. He's an offensive weapon that the Eagles can't afford to lose, especially since they don't have many.

"We'll be moving the ball on offense, but then sometimes we'll have mental lapses where we forget how to play basketball," Jewell said. "Defensively, we've been doing pretty good."

Tolari came off the bench to lead Vernon Hills (10-13, 4-4) with 16 points, all of which came in the final quarter. Besides getting the fortunate bounces on the two 3-pointers, he also sank another shot from beyond the arc. He went 5 of 5 from the line, including 3 of 3 in one trip, as well.

"Tanner can get hot," Mason said after the Cougars outscored Lakes 23-22 in a more up-tempo fourth quarter.

Michael Dougherty added 12 points (two 3-pointers) for the Cougars, who also got 5 blocks and 5 rebounds from 6-foot-7 center Eric Weiler.

"We're having a tough time scoring, so we got to look at some things and keep shooting the ball," Mason said. "We're shooting a lot in practice."