Lakes catches a 'break', will play for title

Justin Schneider and his Lakes basketball teammates are a victory away from officially making their mark in Grant's holiday tournament.

Schneider already has his mark. Call it a day-late Christmas gift a slightly swollen and nicked nose.

During practice Monday, an Eagle accidentally landed an elbow on Schneider's nose, breaking it. The elbow belonged to Direll Clark, who happens to be a hard-running all-state football player.

"Direll got him, so of course it's going to leave a mark," Lakes coach Chris Snyder joked. "I didn't even realize it until I saw him come in on Tuesday to our shootaround and he had the mask on. I was like, 'What the heck happened?' "

"Pretty strong kid," Schneider said with a smile of Clark.

Playing his third straight game with his protective mask Thursday, Schneider showed a nose for the ball, so to speak. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound center took advantage of his superior size inside to score 17 points and grab 13 rebounds, as Lakes improved to 3-0 in the tournament with a 54-42 win over Northridge Prep.

"I went to the doctor and he said I have to wear the mask if I wanted to play," Schneider said. "I'd rather wear the mask than not play."

Clark added 11 points, and Jay-Jay Elvir came off the bench to contribute 9 points and 4 assists for Lakes (9-5), which will play host Grant for the championship at 7 p.m. today.

"We're starting to hit our stride in terms we're starting to play more consistently at both ends," Snyder said. "Defensively, we're starting to get after it, pressuring and denying the other team. Offensively, it's been a tough week because we've been seeing a lot of different kind of zone looks, but our guys have done a good job responding to it and trusting what we're trying to do."

Lakes' patience against the Knights' zone paid off as the game went along. Schneider scored 8 points in the third quarter, helping the Eagles stretch a 29-21 halftime advantage to 43-32 entering the fourth.

"He's been playing hard this week, but the zones have been giving him a hard time," Snyder said. "Today we really wanted to get that ball into him."

Northridge Prep (8-4, 1-2) pulled within 44-34 with 6:08 left in the fourth on a running hook by James Stoll (8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks). But Clark hit Schneider with a pass not an elbow this time and Schneider dunked with two hands to push the lead to 12.

Schneider then finished a dish from Elvir and was fouled with 4:41 to go, all but securing Lakes' spot in tonight's championship game.

"The past two games having been a little hard (wearing the mask), especially with catching bounce passes, because the padding in the mask makes it hard to see," Schneider said. "When I went up for that dunk, I could barely see the rim because the top pad was blocking (my vision) a little bit."

Lakes got strong minutes off the bench from Elvir as well as Andrew Spencer (4 points, 3 steals, 3 rebounds). Jacob Brown beat the first-quarter buzzer by banking in a shot from half-court.

Mike Leazer paced Northridge Prep with 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.