Vernon Hills 47, Amundsen 34

Vernon Hills senior center Kenny Rideout succinctly summed up the significance of what the Cougars accomplished Wednesday.

"This was a big step for Vernon Hills," he said. "We get to play another day."

The big step was the first victory in the state tournament for the Cougars since 2001. Vernon Hills limited visiting Amundsen to 5 points in the fourth quarter and posted a 47-34 victory.

The Cougars, the No. 8 seed, play host to No. 1 North Chicago at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Amundsen, the No. 9 seed, finished the year with a 15-10 mark.

After committing 14 turnovers in the first half, the Cougars (11-14) had only four miscues over the final two quarters.

"We had better spacing," Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. "We reversed the ball and (showed) good patience."

In the fourth quarter, the Cougars did not settle for jumpers. Three of Vernon Hills' last four field goals came on back-cuts that led to layups.

"That's (all) we were looking for," Rideout said.

Freshman DaVaris Daniels, who scored a game-high 13 points, came through with maybe the biggest layup at the start of the fourth quarter. For a split second, he considered dunking the ball before thinking better.

"It was too close a game," Daniels said. "If I missed, it could have been a turning point."

"I've seen enough of his dunks in practice," McCarty joked."

The Vikings were unable to stop Daniels' dribble penetration. Daniels made the most of his time at the free-throw line (9 of 12).

"We gave him more room to attack the basket in the second half," McCarty said.

Sophomore Chris Morgan hit two 3-pointers and scored 12 points. Rideout and junior Brian Smith each had 8 points. Rideout also contributed 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Lugene Johnson (12 points) was the Vikings' only double-digit scorer.

Vernon Hills held the Vikings without a field goal for more than four minutes in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars, like most North Suburban Prairie Division teams, did not have much success against North Chicago during the regular season. They lost both meetings, by scores of 95-42 and 84-46.

What matters, though, like Rideout said, is that the Cougars are still playing.

"Win or lose, this will be a real good experience for the guys we have coming back next year," McCarty said. "We're not going to outscore them. We need to hold them to 60-65 points and control the tempo."