Grcic, Lake Zurich handle Prairie Ridge

Lake Zurich's boys basketball team was ready to play Saturday, despite its 9 a.m. tipoff against Prairie Ridge in the opening game of Jacobs' Holiday Classic.

Mirko Grcic scored 16 points, including two 3-pointers, and grabbed 8 rebounds, leading the Bears to a 36-24 win.

Justin Peterson, Jeff O'Brien and Brenden Seeger also hit 3s for the Bears (5-5), who won their third in a row,

They led 8-5 after one quarter, 21-7 at halftime and 31-19 after three.

"PR played zone, was patient, and ran clock for over a minute multiple times until we were able to get a good look," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. "They did a good job of controlling tempo, but I thought we responded with good discipline."

Pitcher credited O'Brien for holding the Wolves' Sean Valentine (20 ppg) to 6 points.

O'Brien helped limit Zion-Benton's Malik Yarbrough to 16 points on Thursday.

"Everyone got in and contributed positively, so we were able to rest our starters in the second half," Pitcher said. "A lot which is important since we play five games at Jacobs followed by four at Pekin over break."