Lakes battles to the finish
Another North Suburban Prairie Division championship wasn’t going to be as easy as another breakaway dunk for North Chicago’s boys basketball team.
Lakes was determined to prove that this season.
And Jay-Jay Elvir was going to make sure host North Chicago earned every point, right to the end, in its 90-75 win over him and his teammates Friday night.
So as Marzhon Bryant soared for a seemingly uncontested slam, after taking a lengthy inbounds pass with his squad leading by 12 and less than two minutes left, Elvir sprinted. The 6-foot-3 senior leapt high and swatted Bryant’s dunk try out of bounds.
Lakes’ appreciative fans erupted in cheers.
“I didn’t want to let them score any easy buckets on me and try to boost the score up more than it was,” said Elvir, who blocked a shot in high-flying fashion in the first half, too. “That doesn’t help us win as a team.”
Like in a double-overtime loss at Lakes on Dec. 16, the Eagles were competitive against a North Chicago squad that with the win clinched its fifth NSC Prairie title in Gerald Coleman’s six seasons as Warhawks coach.
“It’s tough, but all it is is motivation,” Elvir said. “It makes us want to work harder.”
Lakes (15-8, 8-2), which would have been tied with North Chicago atop the NSC Prairie with two games left had it won, saw its four-game winning streak snapped.
“We competed,” Eagles coach Chris Snyder said. “We just had a couple of stretches where we lost our composure out there, and against a team like that, that’s where they get you.”
Dynamic and demonstrative guard Aaron Simpson, playing his second straight game after sitting against Grant due to a violation of a team policy, led North Chicago (16-3, 10-0) with 28 points, including three 3-pointers, 5 assists and 3 steals. Sophomore forward Kurt Hall added 27 points and 13 rebounds. Kevante Curry, who Coleman calls the best sixth man in the conference, contributed 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals.
North Chicago trailed 21-19 after one quarter but got 10 points from Hall in outscoring Lakes 23-14 in the second.
The Warhawks extended their lead to 66-53 after three.
“In four quarters, we probably played two,” Coleman said. “The first half we were very slow, very sluggish. We weren’t boxing out, we weren’t playing very aggressive defense. At certain parts in the third quarter maybe we tightened up the defense.”
Elvir led Lakes with 18 points (one shy of his season high), including three 3s and a one-handed dunk after a steal of his in the second quarter.
“He played tough tonight,” Snyder said of his point guard. “He was definitely itching to get out here and play in a big-game atmosphere, as they all were. I think it was a good learning experience for the guys.”
Elvir led five Eagles in double figures. Junior guard Andrew Spencer came off the bench to score a season-best 14 points and grab 5 rebounds. Senior center Justin Schneider had another strong all-around game (12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 drawn charges, 2 blocks, 2 steals). Tanner Blain (three 3-pointers) and Direll Clark added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Lakes was within eight twice in the fourth quarter.
“Lakes is a very good team being patient with the basketball,” Coleman said. “We can’t let them run their plays. We got to apply pressure and create turnovers. We weren’t fronting the big fella (Schneider) the first half. Once we started fronting him with weakside help, that made us better on defense.”
Elvir’s late block on Bryant’s dunk attempt kept Lakes energized, but Hall’s second slam — North Chicago’s fifth — put it away.
“We were resilient,” Snyder said. “We played hard throughout the whole game, so we just got to bounce back and keep working.”