Neuqua earns 20th win
Whether you're talking defense or depth, Neuqua Valley comes at teams like surf upon the shore.
Saturday the Wildcats ruined Lake Park's senior night by forcing 21 turnovers in another big-numbers win, 76-48 in Roselle.
Neuqua (20-7, 8-1), bagging 20 wins for the seventh time in eight years, kept the pressure on Upstate Eight Conference leader Waubonsie Valley behind center Danny Pawelski's season-high 22 points.
Forwards Dwayne Evans and Derek Raridon scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, and coach Todd Sutton again played all available Wildcats.
"We've got 17 players and we've gotten all 17 players in like the last three games," said Brad Keeler, who joined Evans and fellow guards Graham Smith and reserve Steve Waeghe to hassle the Lancers in half-court man, on the press, or in a half-court trap.
"We're coming together," Keeler said. "Everybody's playing well, and we're trying to get deeper and deeper into the bench and get other people scoring."
Lake Park (7-16, 1-7) didn't let it slip away immediately, though Trent Patterson's nifty fastbreak lay-in was the Lancers' sole field goal in a first quarter Neuqua led 11-8.
In the second quarter, though, Pawelski rang up 12 points, Keeler added a pair of 3s and Raridon hit an off-balance 3 at the buzzer for a 37-21 Wildcats halftime lead.
"It was just kind of slow and methodical and (we) just kept plugging away," Sutton said. "Obviously, the defense carried us."
Which burrowed into Lake Park's psyche.
"Our (lack of) confidence led to us being passive on both ends," said Lancers coach Cray Allen, whose club shot 18 of 53 on the night and was 9 of 11 at the foul line to Neuqua's 23 of 29.
"And when you're passive on both ends against a team like Neuqua you're going to have issues."
They continued.
Lake Park guard Danny Baylis erupted for two 3s and 12 of his team-high 14 points in the third quarter, but Evans scored 8 with a pair of steals to propel Neuqua Valley to a 60-39 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Garbage time? Not with Neuqua's bench.
"There's some teams that only go like six or seven guys," Pawelski said, "so if we can be throwing bodies out there all night they're going to be getting worn down."
Mentally, too. The last of three brothers to play at Lake Park spanning 12 years, Michael Pavone got no joy out of his 11 points and 7 rebounds in his final home game.
"We got our butts kicked by a lot of points, so it's pretty bad. I'm just disappointed right now," Pavone said.