Lisle 49, Reed-Custer 38

Lisle's Matt Bryjak must have brought his crystal ball to Friday night's game against Reed-Custer because he knew how the game would turn out before it finished.

The Lions (7-14) started the game shooting poorly from the field, making 2 of 7 shots in the first quarter, digging themselves a 10-point deficit before turning it on in the fourth quarter to pull out a 49-38 victory in their opener at the Interstate Eight Conference boys basketball tournament.

When Lisle fell behind early, all the Lions did was chip away at the deficit and not panic.

"I knew we would come back and pull it out," Bryjak said. "We didn't get worried. I know they have lost a bunch of games where they were tight and this was just another one of those games for them. I knew we would come back the whole time we were down."

One thing that helped Lisle was turning up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, a quarter where the Lions outscored the Comets 9-3 en route to an 18-3 run over the second and third quarters.

"We didn't hit the floor with a lot of energy to start the game and we found ourselves down as a result," Lisle coach Mark LaScala said. "Once we got bloodied from the initial run, we really responded well and clamped down defensively."

The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair up until the 2:10 point as the Lions went on a 13-0 run to end the game. First it was a 3-pointer by Jay Osika that gave the Lions a 40-38 lead. Then it was a 3-point play on a cut to the basket by Jon Surber, putting Lisle up 5 points.

After a few more free throws by Lisle it was Marcus Wilson's turn to grab the spotlight.

After a missed shot by Reed-Custer's Tim VanDuyne, there was a long outlet pass to Wilson, who drove hard to the basket, got a lot of contact and put the ball high up off the glass with a lot of English, getting the bounce and the foul. He made the free throw to seal the game with 38.3 seconds left.

"Marcus does plays like that for us," Bryjak said. "He is the only streetball player we have on the team. He will hit floaters, up-and-unders. One of his favorite things to do is try to get someone to block his shot. He makes people look silly with some of his moves. He will show the ball and then it will disappear and he will somehow get the shot off. He makes them, too."

Reed-Custer (4-16) coach Nathan Spriggs said his team needs to take care of the ball in tight ballgames and make shots. The Comets were not successful in those two aspects in the second half. The Comets had 7 turnovers in the fourth quarter.

"We need to play all four quarters," Spriggs said. "We needed to take care of the ball better and make some adjustments. Lisle made a lot of nice adjustment and we didn't. In tight ballgames every possession matters and we gave the ball up too easily."

Byjak finished with a game-high 16 points, while Mike Gortowski chipped in with 11 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth.

Lisle continues tournament play against Sandwich at 6 p.m. today in Dwight.