Meccia's moxie helps Lake Park past Grayslake North

How important is it to have a point guard like Stefan Meccia?

The Lake Park senior can not only score, he refuses to lose, doesn't make mistakes and doesn't let his teammates accept defeat, either.

Lake Park needed all of that Friday night to survive a 54-50 overtime win against spunky Grayslake North for the Fremd Class 4A regional title, and a spot Wednesday versus Palatine in the Barrington sectional semifinals.

But the Lancers' postgame focus was clearly on cleaning up their style of play after being pushed to the brink by a Grayslake North squad that was 11th-seeded in the sectional and relishing its underdog role against No. 2 seed Lake Park.

"I think they outplayed us. The only thing we even did was find a way to survive," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko. Fortunately, he had Meccia, who scored 12 points and kept Lake Park (23-6) secure by not allowing the team to commit any second-half or overtime turnovers.

"Really? I did not know that," Meccia said of the turnover statistic which really won the game for them.

Meccia also scored 12 points, all after halftime. And after helping set up Tim Weiss (6 points) and Dan Hynes (12 points) for key fourth-quarter field goals over Grayslake North's virtually game-long, sticky zone, Meccia took charge in overtime.

His drive tied the score after Lee Bowen put Grayslake North ahead briefly. After a Hynes 3 regained Lake Park the lead, Meccia hit another free throw and then watched Cameron Van Aswegen make the defensive play of the game, registering a steal and then 2 free throws.

Lake Park needed them, as Aiden Einloth hit a 3 to finish with a game-high 20. Lake Park's Marcus McDaniel provided the final free throws for the clincher.

"We played as a team," Meccia said of the difference for Lake Park, which had balanced scoring and got key contributions off the bench from 3-point sharpshooters Weiss and Hynes.

Even though the game was nip and tuck, it seemed like Lake Park was chasing. Einloth got his game in gear in the second half, and the 6-foot-5 junior scored on a tough, game-tying drive in the final seconds to force overtime.

How was the junior feeling after the game? "It's more like shock, but it hasn't hit me yet," he said. "I feel like we really rose to the occasion."

He got great support from forward Lucas Buckels (8 points) and guards Bobby Krebs and Eli Atwater, with 5 points apiece.

"I told the kids it's not disappointing that we lost," said Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh, whose club is 10-4 since the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January. "It's just that we're not going to have practice on Monday.

"Everyone of us said we deserve to be here. They earned the right to be here."

And Lake Park earned the right to move on, although they knew it would be tough.

"We knew this was going to happen," Meccia said of underdog Grayslake North (18-11) playing so well.

"He did a great job," Virostko said of his gutty point guard. "They (Grayslake North) gave us problems all game. Sometimes, you've got to be lucky."