Lake Park contains Conant
Lake Park could have easily avoided the late drama in Saturday night's nonconference boys basketball game at Conant.
But the Lancers overcame shaky free-throw shooting down the stretch with hard defensive work in the final 12 seconds to avoid any extra excitement in a 42-39 victory at Perry Gym in Hoffman Estates.
"We've played a lot of teams in their (Mid-Suburban) league so we're used to the way they play," said senior guard Nick Zanghi of the Lancers' third win this week and fifth in six tries. "Coming to Conant, it was a game we knew we had to be ready."
Especially since the biggest lead was 39-34 for the Lancers (14-5) with 4:11 left on drives by Dave Prentis (game-high 13 points, 3-for-5 on 3-pointers) and foul-plagued Domo Spencer (6 points).
But five consecutive missed free throws including the front end of two 1-and-1s prevented them from putting away Conant (9-11).
"There would have been no excuses if we blew the lead it would have been completely on us," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko after his team missed 10 of 19 free throws. "You have to fight through fatigue and knock them down.
"But they guarded. I couldn't be more proud of our kids for the way they guarded the last possession."
A driving 3-point play and short baseline turnaround by Tim Manczko (7 points) got Conant within 40-39 with 21 seconds left. K.J. Wilson (7 points) hit a pair of free throws with 17.2 seconds to play.
Conant used its final timeout with 12.2 seconds left but was forced into a pressured, off-balance 23-footer at the horn by sophomore Joey Ranallo (6 points, two 3s) that hit the front rim.
"Our main objective was to switch all screens and make sure they didn't get any 3s," said Zanghi, whose 3-point play off a feed by Jeremy Caboor put Lake Park ahead to stay at 26-23.
Conant's eighth loss in its last 10 games had a familiar script as seven have been by 5 points or less.
The Cougars shot only 33 percent from the field (12-for-36) and were 4-for-17 behind the arc. They also committed half of their 16 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
"We're right at the corner and we can't turn it," said Conant coach Tom McCormack. "Defensively our guys are really, really playing and they've been doing that all year.
"Offensively we've just been really struggling to try to score."
Lake Park hasn't been hurting for contributors with 6-foot-5 Zach Wagner out injured. Spencer sat the last 5:27 of the first half with 3 fouls but the 6-4 Caboor had 6 rebounds and 3 assists and 6-8 Scott Karlis and Steve Wuthrich provided solid minutes.
"I tell everyone we keep 15 guys for a reason and the kids have stuck to that," Virostko said.
"By far one of our biggest strengths is a deep bench," Zanghi said. "Everyone is willing to step up and help us and it showed tonight."