Brownridge, Waubonsie sink Lake Park

Iced by a Lake Park timeout after missing his first free throw with no time left in regulation, his team down a point, the lane all to himself and the visiting fans in his ear, the game was literally on the line for Waubonsie Valley's Jared Brownridge.

"I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous," said the junior guard, who had grabbed a loose ball under his own basket in a scramble, tried to get off a shot and was awarded a foul.

Brownridge swished his second free throw to deliver the Warriors into overtime.

"Knowing I missed the first one, I had to have confidence on the second one, so I knocked it down, took my team into overtime. One thing I was thinking is I didn't want to lose the game," he said.

From there Waubonsie took control in its Aurora gym. The Warriors outscored Lake Park 11-2 in the extra session Friday for a 54-45 win that gave Waubonsie sole possession of second place, behind Metea Valley, in the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division.

"We knew when Jared made that free throw we were going to win the game," said senior forward Brandon Malby, who scored 10 points with 6 rebounds and 2 steals. "We had a hard week of practice, we did good, we knew we had what it took to win the game."

Starting in overtime with Malby's runner and Bryan Jefferson's three-point play, then a Brownridge basket off a Malby assist, Waubonsie Valley (15-7, 7-2) closed it out.

Lake Park (15-6, 6-3) nearly had it in regulation despite going eight minutes without a field goal spanning the third and fourth quarters.

"We couldn't hit a shot," said Lancers coach Josh Virostko. "I thought we got good looks, just couldn't knock them down. Then we got a little hot there at the end and we were able to hit some shots and made it a game."

Lake Park also defended. After Waubonsie's Tyler Yanisch found Jefferson inside for a 38-29 Warriors lead at 7:04 of the fourth quarter, Lake Park's Dominique Spencer, Steve Wuthrich, K.J. Wilson and Zach Wagner helped force 8 turnovers in nine Waubonsie possessions.

Dave Prentis' 3-pointer had the Lancers within 42-41 with 1:16 left in regulation. Nick Zanghi's half-hook gave them a 43-42 lead with 21 seconds left.

Wagner led Lake Park with 19 points and 7 rebounds.

Waubonsie coach Steve Weemer exuded praise for his players' resiliency in what he called a must-win game.

"I was really, really proud of them because we could have easily got down and got deflated there when it went to overtime," Weemer said. "Really proud of them, beat a very good team."