Bartlett roars back to down Lake Park

Despite trailing through most of the game, the Bartlett Hawks tightened up on defense while turning around a poor free throw performance to pull off a come-from-behind 66-60 Upstate Eight Conference boys basketball win over Lake Park Thursday night in Roselle.

With just under two minutes left to play, Cory Hrynyk took a steal down for a turnaround layup to avoid the block and give the Hawks (3-3, 1-1) the lead for good.

"We just kept on playing hard," Hrynyk said. "We had the mental mindset to not give up, and we just pulled it off in the end."

Entering the second half, Hrynyk had only 4 points while the Hawks as a team went 1-for-8 at the line, but Hrynyk would finish the game leading with 21 points while the Hawks went 11-for-20 at the line.

"We created turnovers in the second half," said Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith. "We got the ball to Cory and dumped it to (Kamil) Janton. And unlike most of the rest of the game, we started nailing our free throws."

The Hawks had faced a deficit most of the night, holding only four leads through the first three quarters for a short amount of time, as the Lancers (2-5; 0-2) were on fire from behind the arc.

The Lancers would hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter as Jason Sotira nailed a buzzer-beater almost 10 feet behind the arc to give Lake Park a 14-12 lead, which opened the flood gates for all 15 of the Lancers' second-quarter points coming from 3-point range.

The Lancers went on a 12-0 run early in the second as Sotira nailed a couple 3s while Lake Park opened up a healthy 26-14 lead, but the Hawks would finish the half down only 4.

"I think we let them hang in there too much," said Lancers coach Cray Allen. "If you let a team stick around, they'll eventually find a way."

Sotira led the Lancers with 17 points including five 3-pointers while Danny Baylis had 14 points including four 3-pointers, but it was a lack of assists that did Lake Park in.

"If you have 33 points of perimeter scoring and only 4 or 5 assists, that's not good," Allen said.

Janton and Luke Labedski each finished with 19 points each for the Hawks to back up Hrynyk's second half performance.

"(Hrynyk and Janton) are both Division I players, and they're key players for us," Wolfsmith said. "That's why I have them out there."