Neuqua Valley has an answer for Lake Park

Every time Lake Park went on a run, Neuqua Valley went on a bigger one.

The visiting Wildcats were simply too good, taking a 70-42 victory home from Roselle on Friday night.

"Neuqua, no matter what we would have done tonight, they were going to be successful," Lake Park coach Josh Virostko said. "They're just that kind of team."

The trend started in the first quarter. Down by 6 points, the Lancers scored 8 straight to take a 14-10 lead. But Neuqua Valley (14-0, 4-0 Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division) responded, ending the quarter with a 17-14 lead and going up 26-14 on the first of junior Tyler Sutton's four 3-pointers before the Lancers (10-5, 1-2) could score again. Dominique Spencer's two free throws ended a 5-minute, 40-second drought and the 16-0 run.

"The first quarter they came out real strong," Wildcats sophomore Darien Miskel said of Lake Park. "They knew this was a big game for them. And they came out strong, played real hard defense. We took them kind of lightly in the first quarter, but coach called a timeout and told us we had to pick it up. This is a big game. This is a conference game. We had to win."

"You can't be mad because you play out of your head," said Virostko, whose team missed senior Zack Cooper, out indefinitely with a concussion. "The game was too big for us tonight. I'm not really that mad at our guys from the aspect that somebody tried to mess up. I just think that overall as a team, the game was too big. It was the first time we've played in front of a packed house, the game was kind of hyped up, and for a young team with only one senior that played tonight, it was just a little too big."

It happened again to start the third quarter. Trailing 31-18 at halftime, the Lancers scored the first 7 points of the third period.

Neuqua Valley scored the next 20 points, with Miskel throwing down a left-handed jam on a fastbreak in the middle of the run. The Wildcats led by 29 after three quarters.

"I've been waiting for that for a while," Miskel said. "I haven't gotten one like that this whole year. I needed to get my guys something to get up about, something to cheer about, and I feel like after that we got more energized. We carried it on from there, went on a big run. But that definitely energized us. It energized me."

A dozen Wildcats scored, with Sutton's 12 points taking the lead. Seniors Jim Stocki, Alex Karkazis and Ryan McDermott each added 9.

Junior Zack Wagner led the Lancers with 9 points.