Lake Forest downs Stevenson behind Vogrich, Hopfinger

Lake Forest senior forward Matt Vogrich usually doesn't need any help getting his game started.

So when the Michigan-bound Vogrich struggled through a tough first half, junior Mitch Hopfinger stepped up and helped out quite nicely.

Hopfinger scored 8 of his 18 points in the first half. Then it was Vogrich in the second half that did in the Stevenson Patriots.

Vogrich scored 12 of his game-best 19 points in the second half and became the all-time scoring leader in Lake Forest history as the Scouts moved one step closer to their first North Suburban Conference Lake Division crown in 5 years with a 54-35 win in Lincolnshire Friday night.

By hitting a pair of free throws midway through the fourth quarter, Vogrich caught and passed the previous total of 1,327 set by Rob Pelinka - a former Michigan standout.

"I am excited about getting the record," Vogrich said. "It was something I felt like I could get this year, and right before we played Round Lake I was close so I knew I would get it some time."

Stevenson made sure early on that Vogrich wouldn't be the one that would beat them. But while Nate Johnson (11 points, 5 steals) took care of Vogrich, the rest of the Patriots had trouble keeping up with Hopfinger and senior guard Kevin Berardini.

"(Stevenson) was over playing on Matt so we ran some specials there for Mitch," Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala said. "Mitch is really a terrific compliment to Matt."

Hopfinger scored in a variety of ways as part of a 7-2 Lake Forest run that put the Scouts up 16-14 midway through the third quarter. When Vogrich proceeded to follow the Hopfinger bucket with a 3-pointer, Lake Forest (17-3, 9-1) had the lead for good at 19-16.

"I felt like we did a nice job at the start of the game," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "But (Lake Forest) is so good and well-coached and they started to shoot, pass, rebound and defend well - they have no real weaknesses."

The Scouts took a 34-26 lead into the fourth quarter and slowly started to pull away from Stevenson (11-8, 4-5). Using a 9-0 run, the Scouts took and moved the lead into double figures and never let the Patriots back into the game.

"At halftime we talked about isolating Mitch because they had a smaller player on him," Vogrich said. "When Mitch started to drive to the basket, guys started to collapse on him and it opened everything else up."

Stevenson senior Jeff Arenson led the Patriots with 13 points, but only 5 came after halftime. Berardini hit a trio of 3-pointers in scoring 12 points for Lake Forest.