Lisle turns the tables on Sandwich
Lisle and Kazim Khan had a couple scores to settle against Sandwich.
When last the teams met, 12 days ago at the Plano Christmas Classic, Sandwich won by 2 points in overtime. Khan had his legs taken out from under him on a rebound late in regulation, sustaining a head injury that shelved him the next two games.
On Friday, Khan gave the Indians a headache. The 6-foot-1 senior scored a career-high 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting in the host Lions' 61-52 Interstate Eight Conference victory.
Khan added 7 rebounds and 3 steals and joined Cam Bell and Pat Webb for 10-of-10 foul shooting after Sandwich pulled within 51-48 with 3:02 to play.
Khan's 34 points were the most for a Lion since Jeff Robinson's 34 in a Class A regional win over Driscoll in 2005. Robinson scored 35 points earlier that season.
"I'm glad to come back this game and leave with a bang," said Khan, whose prior high was 27 points, scored on consecutive nights this November. He had some trepidation after being knocked "woozy" but not much.
"It didn't stop me from going as hard as I could to the basket," Khan said. "That thought was there, but we did our thing and finished the ball."
Lisle (5-11, 2-3) led 14-3 after a quarter, Khan and forward Jeremy Glavanovits starting quickly, but Sandwich (4-10, 0-4) made a game of it by forcing 14 turnovers in the second and third quarters.
Sandwich never led, but with Jake Roehn scoring 13 points and Ryan Valentine with 10, it rallied within 33-25 by halftime and 42-37 after three quarters.
Indians coach Scott Bantz went with a 1-2-2 zone defense in the first half, and after Khan scored 19 points the coach switched to a diamond-and-1 scheme with Spencer Carlson chasing Khan in the half-court.
"In the third quarter he had 2 points and that was the shutdown for us," Bantz said. "But every other quarter he kind of got whatever he wanted to."
Roehn and Valentine entered into a back-and-forth duel with Khan to start the fourth quarter. The two Sandwich players accounted for 10 points to Khan's 9 bank shot, turnaround, straight jumper, 3 to pull within 51-48 and then 53-50 with 1:13 to play.
Sandwich started to foul and Lisle provided no help. Bell, who scored 14 points, made 4 free throws in the last 1:02. Point guard Webb swished his only 2 points with 35.2 seconds left.
Bell recently made 91 of 100 free throws in a team competition.
"I'm not nervous," said the senior guard.
"I think our kids were very hungry about this game, particularly Kazim because he hasn't gotten to play the last two games," said Lisle coach Mark LaScala. "I think he was trying to get three games worth tonight. He played with a ton of energy and that really helped."