Lancers finish against Tigers
As the season has gone on with his young team, Lake Park boys basketball coach Cray Allen has been stressing one key word: Finish.
In Tuesday's 55-47 nonconference win over Wheaton Warrenville South, that message was finally received.
The Lancers (7-14) have had problems all season taking care of business in the fourth quarter. But Tuesday Lake Park hit 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch, showing the maturation of a young team as regionals approach.
"We always say, finish, finish, finish," Allen said. "We've been up at the half probably half of our games. We just had some young kids that didn't know what to do in terms of finishing games at the varsity level."
It was not always easy for the Lancers, however. Wheaton Warrenville South (12-9) took only its third lead of the game with 6 minutes, 7 seconds left in the fourth, 38-37 on a Derek Babb driving layup. But Lake Park responded with a 9-0 run, fueled by two field goals from sophomore Matt Drufke.
"They played really well," WW South coach Mike Healy said. "I thought Lake Park played a little more intelligent, got us in transition. Our kids kept battling, but we made too many mistakes tonight."
A Drufke lay-in with 1:40 left made it 46-38 Lancers. The Tigers' Byron Given drilled a 17-footer, Kendrick Perry blocked a shot on the other end, and Babb converted a three-point play to slice the lead to 46-43 with 52 seconds left.
After two free throws from Lake Park's Danny Baylis, Dane Olson hit a dramatic 3-pointer in the corner with 40 seconds left to cut the lead to 48-46.
"It was kind of déjà vu of every game this season," Drufke said. "You've got to have confidence and hit your free throws."
That is exactly what Drufke and the Lancers did. Drufke, an early-season varsity call-up, did his share. He scored 8 of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter, including 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final minute.
"I saw the kid as a freshman and I knew that he knew the game," Allen said of Drufke. "He's definitely going to be a player for us. He'll be one of those kids where maybe his stat line isn't great, but he'll get you a lot of wins with things you may not recognize."
Mike Pavone scored 14 points and Baylis 10 to join Drufke in double figures for the Lancers. Perry led Wheaton Warrenville South with 15 points and 4 blocked shots off the bench. Given added 12 points and Babb 10.