Lake Park holds off Elk Grove

The emphasis was on defense when Elk Grove faced off against Lake Park on Wednesday night at the Fenton Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving tournament.

Each team was able to shut down the other's attack, but the Lancers - especially sophomore forward Dominique Spencer- generated more offense.

Spencer scored 13 points, all in the first half, as Lake Park built a big lead and held on for a 40-34 victory.

"Dominique is going to be a special player, especially when he learns to be more consistent throughout the entire game," said Lancers coach Josh Virostko. "But that's part of being a sophomore. He had some good looks in the second half, too, but they just didn't go down."

Guard Brian Battaglia scored a game-high 14 points, but the Grens (0-3) played their second straight game without senior post player Donny Duschinsky - who scored 19 in the season opener.

Duschinsky is scheduled to have knee surgery next week and will miss about 3-4 weeks.

"I thought we played well on defense." said Grens coach Anthony Furman. "We did everything we needed to do on the defensive end except box out, but offensively we've still got to figure it out."

The Lancers (2-1) led by double digits for most of the game before the Grens made it close late.

After scoring only 4 points in the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Grens put together a flurry of baskets in the final minute to close within 38-34 with 10 seconds left.

Two free throws with just a couple of ticks left by Lancers senior guard Adam Hansen sealed the win.

The Lancers' Matt Drufke and Kyle Phelan each pitched in 8 points.

"This was an ugly win," Virostko said. "We had the intensity on the defensive end, but we weren't able to execute on offense. You have to give Elk Grove some of the credit for that - they moved well defensively."

Grens senior guard Keven Zelaya added 8 points.

"We were able to stop them on their first 10 possessions of the second half," said Furman. "But then they stopped us, too. We've got to get more aggressive and more confident on the offensive end."