Knar reclaims his cool as Mundelein tops LF

The game was going fast — too fast for Mundelein junior Robert Knar’s liking.

“The fans here are great and the atmosphere here was just so crazy I had trouble catching my breath,” Knar said. “I just needed to calm down and slow down and things worked out.”

Knar also needed a little family advice. Typically that comes from Dad, also known as head coach Richard Knar.

Friday night in the Mustangs’ North Suburban Conference Lake division opener against Lake Forest, the advice came from his cousin, Mundelein Freshman “B” coach Zack Ryan.

A little halftime chat from Ryan proved to be the calming influence that Robert Knar needed. After scoring just 6 points in the first half, Knar scored 9 of his 19 points in the third quarter as the Mustangs cruised to a 67-56 win over the visiting Scouts.

“The credit goes to his cousin — Zack Ryan,” coach Knar said. “He saw how gassed Robert was at halftime and he just said a few things to him that helped calm him down.”

Mundelein (6-0, 1-0) was still in control at halftime thanks in part to a solid first half from junior Sean O’Brien. He scored all 12 of his points in the first half to help the Mustangs assume a 38-29 halftime advantage.

“Unselfish play is such a huge part of what we do and we are a very good, unselfish team,” said O’Brien, who finished with 14 boards and 6 assists. “When (Lake Forest) was concentrating on him we had other guys get step up.”

Knar caught fire quickly in the third quarter, scoring the Mustangs’ first 7 points. Lake Forest (3-2, 0-1) pulled to within 40-34 on a 3-pointer by Thomas Durrett but that’s as close as the visitors got.

Durrett shared game-high scoring honors with Knar at 19.

“Tonight was definitely a game of runs,” said Lake Forest coach Phil La Scala. “Unfortunately, I never felt like we were able to stick with the game plan and a lot of that is Mundelein forcing you out of what you like to do.”

The next 7 points of a 9-0 Mundelein spurt essentially put the game out of reach. Mundelein extended its lead to 56-41 on a 3-pointer by Nate Brune (9 points) at the 7:12 mark of the final quarter. The lead wouldn’t dip below 12 points the rest of the way.

Mundelein junior Chino Ebube (10 points) and Lake Forest junior Ben Simpson (12 points) were the only other scorers to hit double figures.