Mooney's heroics in vain as Lake Zurich suffers heartbreaker

Friday night was just another chapter in what has been a bizarre season for the Lake Zurich boys basketball team.

The Bears built a big lead, came close to winning the game in regulation, had numerous chances in the first overtime, but couldn't score.

Fortunately neither could Lake Forest, and the Bears had yet another opportunity in a second overtime before coming up short again.

Lake Forest built a pair of 4-point leads in the second overtime and hung on to win when Lake Zurich senior Chris Coleman's jumper rimed out at the buzzer 60-59.

The victory for Lake Forest (19-3, 10-1) was its 10th straight and gave the Scouts their first North Suburban Conference Lake Division title since 2004.

Lake Forest will face NSC Prairie Division champion North Chicago on Wednesday, Feb. 25 for the conference title.

"The effort for us has been there all year long and the results have not been," said Lake Zurich coach John Zarr. "This game was really a snapshot of everything that has happened to us all year long - getting close, but not closing it out."

Lake Zurich (11-13, 3-8) led by as many as 11 points in the second half before the homestanding Scouts reeled off 17 unanswered points.

"For about 95 percent of the game I thought our defense played great," said Lake Zurich senior Connor Mooney. "We just have to learn to finish things out and we didn't."

Right after the Scouts' run is when Mooney took over. He proceeded to score 10 of his game-high 28 points in the final four minutes of regulation, including a bucket off a Chas Evans steal to put the Bears up 53-50 with a minute to play in regulation.

But as close to victory as Lake Zurich was, it was snatched away by Lake Forest junior Mitch Hopfinger. He took a skip pass from Vogrich and drained a long 3-pointer with four seconds left to force overtime.

"That's a play we like to run a lot," said Hopfinger, who scored all but 2 of his 15 points in the second half and overtime. "It works so well because everyone focuses on Matt so hard, and that was why I was open."

Then another twist to this bizarre game hit when the two teams went scoreless in the first overtime. Lake Forest missed 2 shots and 4 free throws, and Lake Zurich missed 3 short jumpers leading to another extra session.

Vogrich led Lake Forest with 19, and Kevin Berardini chipped in with 18 points, including a key 3-pointer in the second overtime to secure the victory.