Boudreaux's big effort lifts Lake Forest past Lake Zurich
Thrilled with another win for his boys basketball team, Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala chuckled at the prospects of what he knows would be anything but funny.
"We're a little nervous right now, that it's not spreading a little further," LaScala said after his Scouts held off visiting Lake Zurich 60-54 in a battle of unbeaten North Suburban Lake Division teams Wednesday night, despite missing 6-foot-7 starting forward Steve Vogrich and guard Matt Begley due to mono. Vogrich is expected to miss a month.
As long as Lake Forest has a healthy Evan Boudreaux, however, the Scouts will remain formidable.
The 6-8, Dartmouth-bound Boudreaux posted game bests of 31 points and 15 rebounds as the Scouts improved to 6-0 and 2-0 in the NSC Lake.
"We tried some different things on him with different guys and different defenses," said coach Billy Pitcher, whose Bears (7-1, 2-1) played both man to man and zone in attempts to slow down Boudreaux, who shot 13 of 23 from the floor. "He's a load. ... He's the focal point of the scouting report and he still gets 31."
Just 11 seconds into the game, Boudreaux knocked over Lake Zurich center Will McClaughry, who drew the charge. But the Bears' auspicious start - which also included a baseline jumper by Jack O'Neill - was short-lived.
"That's what you're going to have to try to do (against Boudreaux) because you know he's going to get the ball, you know he's going to be strong and make strong moves," McClaughry said. "You either got to take some charges or you got to just play good defense and hope he misses. He's definitely tough."
Propelled by Boudreaux's 9 points, Lake Forest was up 18-12 after one quarter. The Scouts led by as many as 11 in the second and went into halftime ahead 31-25. They increased their advantage to 44-35 after three and were up 50-37 early in the fourth when Mike Travlos heated up for Lake Zurich.
Travlos scored 12 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth, hitting three of his five 3-pointers. His steal and bucket got the Bears within 55-51 with 2:17 left.
Lake Forest's Ryan Kitchel had helped limit Travlos to 2-of-10 shooting through three quarters.
"We needed him to come back and he stepped up," Pitcher said of his senior guard. "He always does that in crunch time."
But Scouts sophomore Justin McMahon sank 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch, while Noah Karras swished a pair.
Karras finished with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Playing just his second game of the season, after recovering from a knee injury, Scouts 6-7 junior Lorenzo Edwards contributed 4 points and 3 rebounds.
"Great team win," LaScala said. "Our other guys stepped up. Ryan Kitchel guarded Travlos all night, and I thought he did an unbelievable job. He contested everything and made everything hard for him. Nothing was easy tonight - for either team. That's our brand of basketball."
O'Neill scored 11 of his 15 points (four 3-pointers) in the first half for Lake Zurich. McClaughry added 13, including a 3.
"I thought (Lake Forest) was more patient offensively than us," said Pitcher, whose team sank 11 3-pointers to stay close all night. "They were willing to work reversals to get it into their guy, and too many times we took quick shots and forced passes."