East Aurora 54, Lake Park 52 (OT)

When Lake Park's boys basketball team opened practice last fall, the Lancers needed to find replacements for every player of consequence who was on last year's 29-win team.

Friday night, the Lancers showed just how far they've come in the ensuing four months despite dropping a 54-52 overtime decision before a raucous senior night crowd at East Aurora in the regular-season finale.

Now, a season that had the potential to be interminable may be ending too soon as the rapidly improving 18th-seeded Lancers (8-18, 2-9 Upstate Eight Conference) open regional play Monday against No. 16 Benet at Bartlett.

"We've come far," said senior center George Manos, who led the Lancers with 14 points. "At the beginning of the season, we never thought we'd be taking teams to overtime."

First-year coach Cray Allen seconded that sentiment.

"We've got some kids doing things now that we've asked them to do all year and they're starting to see some rewards," he said. "The kids know they don't have a lot to lose now. We'll go out there and give Benet our best shot."

It was bad shots by Lake Park and good shooting from East Aurora's Ryan Hayden, who made four 3-pointers in the first half, that helped the Tomcats (16-10, 5-5) lead by as many as 10 points before settling for a 31-24 edge at the break.

But after the Lancers made just 10 of 29 shots in the first half, Manos, Trent Patterson and Danny Howard combined to hit all six of their shots in the third quarter and Danny Baylis added a pair of free throws as Lake Park stormed back to lead 38-37 after three. After halftime the Lancers converted 12 of 17 shots from the field.

"Give Lake Park credit," said East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries. "In the fourth quarter and overtime they didn't miss, they were making everything."

The fourth quarter, which ended tied at 47 thanks to a tip-in by Lake Park's Lucas Antioho, and overtime featured four lead changes and six ties, the last when Lake Park's Michael Pavone swished a 3-pointer from the corner to knot the game at 52 with 13 seconds to play. Eschewing a timeout, East Aurora's William Brown -- who had a game-high 21 points -- wove downcourt, hit the lane and slipped a pass to a wide-open Takaius Brooks who laid the ball in with two seconds to play. Having to go the length of the court, Lake Park was unable to get off a shot before the final buzzer.

Now Lake Park's main goal Monday is to "not feel like this," according to Manos, by beating Benet. "We just have to come out and play harder than Benet, that's all there is to it," he continued.

Should the Lancers win, they will face top-seeded Batavia Tuesday at Bartlett.

-- Chris Traczek

Hinsdale South 59, Leyden 51: The Hornets ended their regular season with a West Suburban Gold win at home in Darien. Center Eric Travis scored 15 points, Carl Fiebig had 12 and Connor Duckhorn added 10 for Hinsdale South (14-11, 7-5). Leyden fell to 4-21, 1-11.