Daniels' transition game powers Vernon Hills

Vernon Hills senior DaVaris Daniels hasn't spent much time on a basketball court as of late.

After the Cougars basketball team wrapped up a forgettable Wheeling Hardwood Classic, the Notre Dame-bound Daniels put down the roundball and picked up the pigskin as he participated in the Under Armour All-American game in Tampa this past week.

Just one short shootaround on Friday morning was about all Daniels could get in with his Cougar teammates. Naturally, it might be safe to assume that he would be rusty as Daniels and his Vernon Hills teammates returned to North Suburban Conference Prairie Division action against visiting Round Lake Friday on night.

But that was hardly the case.

Daniels scored 11 of his game-best 20 points in the third quarter as Vernon Hills snapped a 4-game losing streak by downing Round Lake 45-27.

The Cougars are still unbeaten in the NSC Prairie with a big Saturday night showdown at North Chicago up next.

“When you have a guy with that kind of athleticism, its nice because you know most teams can't match up to a kid like DaVaris,” said Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty. “You could tell he didn't have his legs, but we needed our seniors to step up, and they came through for us tonight.”

Round Lake (4-10, 2-3) was also playing under tough circumstances. With just five minutes left in Thursday night's practice, starting point guard Daniel Uriostegui injured his ankle and was unable to suit up.

“(Not having Daniel) was a factor, but I don't want to use that as an excuse,” said Round Lake coach Jim Roberts. “We struggled offensively, but I think we defended well and didn't let our struggles on one end affect how we played defense.”

The Panthers were within 19-14 early in the third quarter before Daniels took over. A 10-4 burst took the lead into double-figures for the first time. The Cougars outscored Round Lake 15-8 in the period with Daniels scoring 11 of the 15 points.

“I think everyone was struggling because guys missed practices and with the layoff it was hard to get into a groove,” Daniels said. “Once I started to get my legs back, I felt better.”

Daniels legs helped Vernon Hills (11-4, 5-0) pull away from the feisty Panther defense. Led by Juddon Carter and Nick Lange, Round Lake held the Cougars to just 5-for-22 shooting in the first half.

“The kids were kind of down at half but as coaches we were pretty pleased and said ‘Hey, we only gave up 19 in the first half,' ” Roberts said. “But it makes it hard when you play good defense and don't get rewarded for it on the other end.”

Carter was the only other player to hit double figures as he led Round Lake with 10 points.