Lake Park loses to East Aurora in overtime

Lake Park had East Aurora all-state candidate Ryan Boatright more or less in a straightjacket in the first half to close out the boys basketball regular season Friday night in Aurora.

Unfortunately for the Lancers, basketball consists of two halves.

Boatright, held scoreless in the opening half, scored 8 of his team-high 21 points in overtime as East Aurora rallied from a 15-point third-quarter deficit to turn back Lake Park 70-64 in Upstate Eight Conference action.

"The problem was that once (Boatright) started to get it going we didn't match his intensity, especially in overtime," Lake Park coach Josh Virostko said. "It came down to aggressive play in the second half. That was the difference in the game."

"I knew it was either go hard or go home," said Boatright, who spearheaded the Tomcats' furious second-half turnaround with his devastating penetration. "I took it upon myself to make sure we won this game. I wasn't going to let the seniors, my boys, lose this game."

The comeback by East Aurora (16-9, 8-2) spoiled an otherwise twin night of excellence by the Lancers' Dominique Spencer and Kyle Phelan. The latter drained five 3-pointers, scoring 14 of his 21 points before the intermission; Lake Park (12-14,4-6) dominated second-quarter play as Antonio Pietanza capped the Lancers' 23-point outburst with a steal and layup four seconds before the intermission to give Lake Park a 35-23 lead at the break.

Spencer, the Lancers' sophomore forward, was equally masterful throughout the game, tallying 6 straight points in the extra session as part of his game-high 22-point effort. Spencer converted early in the third quarter to give Lake Park its largest lead of the night at 39-24.

But East Aurora would answer not only behind Boatright but also guard Snoop Viser and senior post Keanu McGhee. Viser hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and overtime as part of his 16-point evening, but it was McGhee who completely altered the game. The senior blocked 6 Lake Park shots and scored a personal-high 14 points.

His inside score off a Boatright assist, one of nine in the game for the junior standout, enabled East Aurora to send the game into overtime tied at 55-55.

There were lead changes on four consecutive possessions to start the extra session, but Tremell Weathersby, the fourth Tomcat in double digits with 12 points, gave East Aurora the lead for good off another Boatright dish.

"The bottom line: we didn't get the job done in the second half," Phelan said. "In the second half (Boatright) decided to take over the game. Whatever (my personal point total) is really didn't matter."

Matthew Drufke added 11 points for Lake Park, which faces Niles West in the Class 4A Addison Trail regional on Wednesday.