Stevenson's victory well worth watching
Ryan Rosenbaum acknowledged it's happened before, when, while on the basketball court with Jalen Brunson, he's gotten caught "watching" his Stevenson teammate dazzle.
Down the stretch in Thursday night's North Suburban Conference Lake Division showdown in Lake Forest's jam-packed, intimate gym, the home team was watching Brunson. But instead of attacking the basket, as he did the majority of the fourth quarter, Brunson delivered a no-look pass to a wide-open Rosenbaum, who scored under the basket.
Rosenbaum's only bucket of the night broke a 65-65 tie, and Stevenson had the lead for good en route to a 76-69 win.
Brunson's 41 points led the way, as Stevenson improved to 15-1 and 6-0 in the NSC Lake, while handing Lake Forest (16-1, 5-1) its first loss.
"I've gotten used to it playing with him last year and in practice every day," Rosenbaum, a 6-foot-4 senior reserve, said of the Villanova-bound Brunson. "He's one of the best I've ever seen at no-look passes and just seeing the play one frame ahead of everybody else on the court. I just try to find the open spot and expect the ball when I'm open."
Lake Forest's own star delivered too. Dartmouth-bound Evan Boudreaux led the Scouts with 29 points and 14 rebounds. The 6-8 senior scored 7 points in the fourth, which saw the hosts erase an 11-point deficit.
Brunson's 2 free throws extended the Patriots' lead to 59-48 with 6:18 left. But the Scouts responded with a 12-0 run, which included 2 free throws, a breakaway dunk off a turnover and 3-pointer by Steve Vogrich (10 points) as well as a 3 by Lorenzo Edwards (10 points, 7 rebounds).
"Bad coaching," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose joked. "We coughed the ball up a couple of times, they hit a couple of 3s on us, and we stopped seemingly moving the ball as much as we needed to and settled for some bad shots."
Brunson's 2 free throws put the visitors back in front at 61-60, but Lake Forest kept coming back. Boudreaux's 2 free throws knotted the score at 65-65 with 2:06 to go.
Then Brunson delivered his dandy dish to Rosenbaum with 1:50 remaining.
"Ryan's big for us," Brunson said. "He's always in the right place at the right time."
Brunson sank 10 of 10 free throws in the fourth and was 16 of 18 for the game.
"Our guys came out and laid it on the line at the very end and did an unbelievable job of getting back into that game, mostly with their defense," Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala said. "I think what hurt us in the end was fouling."
Brunson also shot 10 of 21 from the floor with five 3-pointers. It was last February when Brunson scored 57 points and Boudreaux tossed in 43, as Stevenson won in double overtime at Lake Forest.
"It's a great environment for the kids," LaScala said of his Scouts' last two home games against Stevenson. "It's something they'll remember the rest of their lives."
"It's loud," Brunson said of Lake Forest's east campus gym. "I love it."
Connor Cashaw added 12 points and 6 rebounds for Stevenson. Justin Smith had 10 points (2 dunks) and 8 boards, and Matt Johnson contributed 9 points and 4 steals for the Patriots.
Noah Karras added 9 points on three 3-pointers for Lake Forest.
"I love playing against good teams and well-coached teams," Brunson said. "They're a well-coached team. They're prepared. It was two hard teams going at it."