Boys basketball: Battaglia, Alvarado duo lifts Lake Park over Prospect
It was a one-two inside outside punch that Prospect couldn't contain.
Lake Park's senior forward Fred Battaglia provided the inside presence with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists while Lancers senior guard Max Alvarado drilled two 3-pointers and scored 16.
The dynamic duo keyed a Lake Park 54-45 win over Prospect at Geneva's MLK Day of Hoops Monday.
"Max and I have played many years together and have great chemistry," said Battaglia. “My game is to score taking the ball to the basket while Max can score from the outside and hit the 3s. We were really ready to play today and hungry for a win.”
Alvarado feeds off Battaglia.
"If Fred is scoring inside that loosens up for me outside," said Alvarado. “We have great chemistry. We were really ready to play."
Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher likes the leadership Battaglia and Alvarado.
"Fred and Max gives us a good inside-outside punch," said the Lake Park coach. “We were mentally ready to battle. We’ve had a lot of tough losses. We started fast and were able to hold off any Prospect runs. We have a scrappy group."
For the Lancers (11-9), Brennan Shannon scored 9 points with 6 rebounds while Christian Burge scored 7 points, all in the fourth quarter.
Lake Park led 9-4 out of the gate and 20-11 after one quarter.
Battaglia and Alvarado each scored 7 points in the initial quarter while Aurian Patel and Shannon both hit 3-pointers. The Lancers were a sizzling 66% (8-of-12) from the field during the first 8 minutes.
Prospect got within 49-45 with 3 minutes left in the game on a 3-pointer by Anderson Neach. Lake Park scored the final 5 points to win by 9.
Neach led the Knights (8-11) with 14 including 4 3's. Forward Daniel Simon powered his way to 11 points and added 7 rebounds.
"We played from behind all night," said Prospect coach Brad Rathe. “We didn't play hard enough in the first half but played harder in the third quarter and second half. We just couldn't get over the hump. Battaglia and Alvarado are really good players for Lake Park. Lake Park has a good team."