Stevenson 52, Lake Zurich 45

A sign listing the boys basketball team's achievements flanks the scoreboard on the east side of Stevenson's gymnasium.

Kevin Stineman has peered up there more than once.

That's why the senior guard knows positively that the Patriots last won the North Suburban Conference Lake Division championship in 2003.

"We practice in there, so every day I look up there and see what it says," he said.

The sign now needs updating.

Thanks to its "Batman and Robin" as coach Pat Ambrose calls them, Stevenson held off visiting Lake Zurich 52-45 Friday night. Stineman scored a game-high 21 points, while Richter had 15 points, 20 rebounds and 4 assists.

With Zion-Benton defeating Lake Forest 70-53, Stevenson and Z-B finish in a tie for first place in the NSC Lake at 10-2.

But because Zion-Benton had 10 wins in the division by at least six points, compared to nine for Stevenson, the Zee-Bees will represent the Lake in the NSC championship game Wednesday night against Prairie champ North Chicago.

The first tie-breaker was head-to-head competition. Stevenson (17-7) and Zion-Benton (25-3) split.

"Zion well deserves it," Ambrose said. "They're a heck of a team."

Lake Zurich (12-11, 2-10) is an improving one. The Bears came in with a three-game winning streak and had won four of their last five. The lone loss was a five-point decision to Zion-Benton.

"We're getting better, we're going in the right direction and we're competing with teams," coach John Zarr said. "I think a lot of it has to do with our mental approach to the game. We're becoming more of a physical team and we're playing with some confidence."

The Bears certainly did against Stevenson, grabbing a 14-12 lead after one quarter thanks to Connor Mooney's steal and beat-the-clock layup. Mooney scored 13 of his team-high 20 points in the opening eight minutes.

"We knew that they were playing really well," Stineman said. "They just dominated Libertyville (Thursday) night, and Mooney's been playing really good. He played good tonight. The second half he was just off a little bit. We knew they were going to be a whole different team from the first time we played them (a 52-32 Stevenson win). We expected a dogfight."

Stineman gave himself, his team and Stevenson's fans a scare in the first quarter when he hit the floor hard while chasing Mooney on a fastbreak layup attempt. Stineman soared high before landing on his back.

"When I hit (the floor), I got the wind knocked out of me a little bit and the elbow just ripped against the platform," Stineman said. "After a couple of minutes I got movement back so I felt better."

Apparently so.

He sank his first three 3-point attempts in the second quarter, with the first snapping a 14-14 tie. While Lake Zurich kept the game close throughout, the visitors never regained the lead.

"He was in pain so I was concerned that he had broke (the elbow) or something like that," Ambrose said of Stineman. "But Kevin's pretty tough … Not pretty tough, he's real tough."

Stineman finished with five 3s. He and Richter made sure the pesky Bears wouldn't pull off the upset.

Brandon Kunz had 9 points and 7 rebounds for LZ.

"There aren't many times when I can walk into a locker room after a loss and talk about nothing but positive things," Zarr said. "But this evening was one."