Lake Park holds off South Elgin

The offense came late, but it came often for the Lake Park Lancers boys basketball team.

The Lancers (8-1,4-0) defeated the South Elgin Storm 36-25 in an Upstate Eight Valley division battle Friday night at South Elgin.

Both teams played tight defense throughout the game, especially in the first half as the Storm was held to only 8 points in the half while the Lancers scored just 9. The Lancers only scored 1 point in the second quarter, a free throw by senior Scott Karlis with just 2 minutes to go in the half.

"(South Elgin) is one of, if not the best defensive team in the conference," said Lake Park head coach Josh Virostko. "If you look at all their scores, their games are low-scoring. We're not the only ones they do that to."

The Lancers broke out offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring 19 points with the help of senior Domo Spencer, who helped

give Lake Park a 10-point lead with 2 minutes to go in the game after drawing a foul while scoring a layup and making both free throws.

Lake Park would keep its lead consistent through the remainder of the game and finish with the 11-point victory.

"The first three quarters, we weren't playing very well," said Spencer. "In the fourth quarter, we just kept playing hard, and it came out our way."

Spencer led the Lancers with 12 points on the night, while senior Zach Wagner finished with 8. For South Elgin, junior guard Jacob Maestranzi led the team with 13 points, including 2 three-pointers; while sophomore guard Darius Wells and senior guard Brandon McClendon each put up 4 points for the Storm (5-5, 0-3).

Storm head coach Chaz Taft knew that although his defense can guard like no other, the size of the Lake Park team was a factor, especially in the fourth quarter.

"I think their length caused us a lot of problems with our shots," said Taft. "We just have to learn from it. We can't keep dribbling the corners. It takes a big toll on us when our guards are guarding a bigger 6-foot-4 180 pound kid."

After losing to the Storm earlier this season, Spencer was glad to even things out.

"That (loss to South Elgin earlier this season) hurt," he said. "So we had to come in and make a statement. We couldn't lose (to South Elgin) twice."