Boys basketball: Red-hot Stevenson routs Lake Zurich, clinches share of NSC title
Wow.
Whoa.
Take your pick. Stevenson's boys basketball team elicited plenty of both reactions in its 64-37 defeat of visiting Lake Zurich in North Suburban Conference action Friday night in Lincolnshire.
The Patriots hit a pair of buzzer-beaters via a three-pointer, one by senior guard Aidan Bardic (13 points) before halftime and another by junior guard Donny Williams at the end of the third quarter.
Williams (game-high 17 points) had swatted a shot, collected the ensuing rebound and nailed a trey --- elapsed time in that sensational sequence: 7 seconds --- in the first quarter.
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Bardic's no-look pass preceded an easy third-quarter layup by junior guard Rocco Pagliocca, upping the hosts' lead to 41-22. Senior post player Atticus Richmond (12 points, 11 rebounds) needed only 32 seconds in the second quarter to score his first 4 points, both buckets coming off strong drives, and threw down a third-quarter dunk ahead of his acrobatic, back-arching putback 2 minutes later.
Even Stevenson reserve Charlie Rich wowed 'em, blocking a Bears shot and gathering the rebound 1 millisecond later in the fourth quarter.
"We played together tonight, all of us did," Williams said after Stevenson (20-8 overall, 11-2 in the NSC) clinched a share of the conference championship and LZ slipped to 13-16, 5-8 in the penultimate conference matchup for both teams.
"We play our best when we share the ball like we did tonight," the 6-footer added. "Earning a piece of the conference title, this feels good. Teams in our tough conference play a variety of styles, meaning we have to prepare well and then adjust well pretty much every night."
Stevenson --- ranked No. 9 in the Daily Herald's Top 20, winners of 8 straight and 11-1 since Jan. 15 --- enjoyed leads of 18-7 and 22-11 in the second frame before taking complete control in the third quarter on a triple from Pagliocca (10 points), capping off a 7-0 spurt and swelling the advantage to 34-16.
"We didn't keep them out of the paint," LZ coach Terry Coughlin lamented. "That had a lot to do with their win. Stevenson has a good chance to go deep in the playoffs, win (the Class 4A Schaumburg) sectional.
"We have to compete better than we did tonight."
Junior Adrian Riep paced the Bears with 9 points, 1 more than senior teammate Tyler Olson's output.
Stevenson senior Liam Curtin scored 6 points and grabbed 7 boards.
"We got caught trading too many baskets with them in the third quarter," Patriots coach Will Benson said. "Then we started to guard quite well and take good care of the ball.
"This conference is a hard one, so it's a great accomplishment winning a share of the title, especially considering where we stood as a team a month ago."
Stevenson, seeded third in the Schaumburg sectional, travels to Waukegan (second place in the NSC) for its final conference contest on Wednesday night.