St. Charles North 40, Lake Park 39
To raise money after the Lake Park-St. Charles North boys basketball game Friday night, a group of North Star students held a doughnut-eating contest.
While the proceeds went to a good cause -- winter coats for children in need -- it wasn't always a pretty sight watching students stuffing their mouths.
Which wasn't all that much different than the 32 minutes of basketball that proceeded it, with the North Stars falling behind 8-0, shooting 30 percent from the field and trailing almost all night against a Lancer team with 1 Upstate Eight win.
But St. Charles North managed to recover just in time, rallying from a 3-point deficit in the final 25 seconds to defeat Lake Park 40-39 on Jonathan DeMoss' 2 free throws with 3.6 second left.
After a Lake Park timeout, DeMoss hit nothing but net on both of his attempts.
"I thought to myself it's just like practice," said DeMoss, a 67 percent free-throw shooter on the year who hit 6 of 8 Friday.
"We battled back, we had a rough start for the second game in a row. We gutted it out and got the win, which is big for us."
Lake Park (6-13, 1-5) let an off-balance 3-pointer fly from about 25 feet at the buzzer that was well off the mark. That sent the Lancers back to Roselle with a loss in a game they trailed for just 37 seconds.
The Lancers finished 3 of 10 at the free-throw line, including 1 of 6 in the fourth quarter.
"I do know a couple times this year we are on the opposite end of that situation and we don't get that call," Lake Park coach Cray Allen said. "It's tough. But we have to hit our free throws down the stretch. That call is not going to affect us any."
St. Charles North (12-9, 6-2) won for the 10th time in its last 12 games, with its only losses in that span coming to Jacobs and Geneva.
The Geneva defeat featured a near-identical ending to Friday's, with DeMoss driving and drawing contact on a last-second shot. The North Stars didn't get the whistle against the Vikings and lost by a point, making Friday's win a little sweeter.
"He did a good job of creating some contact and obviously stepping up and making the foul shots," St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said.
Lake Park's 2-3 zone frustrated St. Charles North, who didn't score for the first 5:51. DeMoss made 2 free throws with 1:08 left in the second quarter, putting St. Charles North ahead briefly 14-12 -- its only lead until the final score.
Danny Baylis and George Manos swished 3-pointers in the final 34 seconds of the first half to give Lake Park an 18-14 halftime lead.
The Lancers led 28-24 after three quarters and maintained a 4- to 6-point lead throughout most of the fourth quarter.
Nick Neari's steal and first career dunk brought the North Stars within 38-36 with 1:32 remaining.
"He's got some guts in a tight game like that, you've never dunked before, he misses a lot of them in practice," Poulin said. "To go up and do it? I thought, 'Oh no.' The guts that kid has. That's him. He's a free spirit. It got us jacked up and the crowd really woke up."
Manos split two free throws leaving Lake Park up 39-36 with 1:01 left, but the Lancers failed to increase the lead missing 3 straight free throws.
Neari's layup with 25 seconds left pulled St. Charles North within 39-38, then two missed free throws gave DeMoss a chance to penetrate, draw a foul and make the game-winning free throws.
DeMoss scored 12 points to pace both teams. Neari added 9 and Zach Hirsh 8.
"It's tough for the kids," Allen said. "The kids are starting to really prepare well and understand what it takes. We've got to take these solid games and start to get wins. But this builds character. The kids are going to start finishing games. We'll sneak up and get a team or two in the regionals. I really feel that."
Manos led Lake Park with 10. The Lancers got all 39 points from their starters, including 9 from Baylis and 8 from Lucas Antioho.
"That might be the best coached team we've faced as far as their basketball IQ and all the little things a basketball player does," Poulin said. "He's (Allen) done a phenomenal job. They forced us to play their style, and they just made us look bad for quite awhile."