Lake Park stymies Bartlett

Sometimes postseason basketball games are about opportunity and the use of opportunity.

Lake Park saw an opportunity during the third quarter Tuesday night of a semifinal game at its own Class 4A regional against Bartlett and made the most of it.

The Lancers (19-8), seeded fifth in the Schaumburg sectional, were tied at 28 against the 12th-seeded Hawks (14-15).

Lake Park closed out the quarter on an 11-2 run to lead 39-30 at the end of it. While Bartlett stayed on the Lancers’ heels pretty much most of the fourth quarter, Lake Park stayed in control and won 57-50.

The Lancers advance to Friday’s 7:30 p.m. regional final against fourth-seeded York, a 54-47 winner over Elk Grove in the first semifinal Tuesday night.

“We got up close to 10 in the third quarter and came back and sustained our advantage,” said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko. He said defense has been key to the Lancers’ success, and that will continue Friday night.

“We’ve hung our hat on the defensive end. One thing about York is they can score. The key is if we can handle them on defense. We’re not going to be able to stop them, but we will have to contain them,” Virostko said.

It was slim pickings on offense for either team in the first quarter as the Lancers led 9-6 at the end of it as both teams shot a combined 6 of 18 from the field.

Bartlett and Lake Park heated up somewhat in the second quarter to just over 40 percent each, and that led to a 21-21 deadlock at halftime.

Key to the Lancers’ effort in the third quarter were 9 points from senior Zack Wagner, who scored a game-high 19 points, with Dominique Spencer scoring 5 of his 16 total points during that span.

Dave Prentis put through 11 points for Lake Park and 9 from Nick Zanghi.

Bartlett was led by 16 points from Jonathan Leigeber with Matt Chaltin hitting for 11 and Marcus Aluquin and John Moss contributing 10 each.

“This was a big win on our own floor, a big emotional win. There are 10 seniors here trying to win a regional,” Wagner said. “We’ll need to continue to pick up the defensive intensity against York and turn that momentum into offense.”

Bartlett and Lake Park had split the regular-season games against each other.