Lake Zurich 'posts' its first victory

The edict from Lake Zurich coach John Zarr was pretty clear to senior Marko Grcic and the rest of the Bears boys basketball team.

"I told them that they were not allowed to shoot a 3-pointer no matter what," Zarr said. "I think they got the message."

The Bears took 6 attempts from behind the 3-point arc in the first half, missing them all. In the second half, Grcic and senior Chris Baumann proceeded to get down in the post and stay there for the rest of the night in the Bears' nonconference home contest with Antioch.

Grcic and Baumann combined for 33 points and 16 rebounds to lift Lake Zurich to its first win of the season, 52-45 over Antioch on Charity Bash for Make-A-Wish Foundation night at Lake Zurich.

"I don't shoot 3-pointers anyway," Grcic said. "Coach just told us to get inside and go to the hole and take advantage of our height, and that's what we did."

Grcic was a key contributor for Lake Zurich (1-6), primarily to start the fourth quarter. He scored 6 straight points, including a running layup off a nice feed from Colin Rathe to give Lake Zurich the lead for good at 34-33 with 7:19 to play. Grcic led the Bears with 17 points and 7 rebounds.

Then Baumann took over down low for the Bears. His three quick points came during a backbreaking 13-0 run for LZ that turned a 33-30 deficit into a 41-33 lead with 3:18 left. Baumann finished his best night of the year: 16 points, 10 boards and 7 blocked shots.

"His best basketball is still ahead of him this season," Zarr said of Baumann. "The more times he gets on the floor and gets used to playing this type of competition, the more impressive Chris gets."

Antioch (2-5) went over nine minutes without a field goal from the end of the third quarter until Kyle Haley buried a 3-pointer with 1:37 left to bring the Sequoits to within 46-41. Haley led all scorers with 18 points. Kyle Melton also hit double figures for Antioch with 15.

"Lake Zurich made some adjustments and we stopped running our offense," Antioch coach Mike Skinner said. "(Lake Zurich) played with a 'whatever it takes' type of attitude tonight and they did whatever it took to get the win tonight."

The visitors didn't let this one get away without a battle, though, as a pair of free throws by Haley brought the Sequoits within 46-43 with :57 seconds left. But the Bears and Baumann hit their free throws down the stretch to secure win No. 1.

"This feels so good to get this first win, but we wanted to put this into perspective, too," Grcic said. "We are smiling and happy, but we have a lot more that we want to accomplish."