Zion-Benton 70, Lake Forest 53
The coaches at Zion-Benton call junior standout Quintrell Love "Smiley," and for good reason -- he likes to smile a lot.
"I like to smile when I am on the court," Love said. "I love to play basketball and I like to smile while I play."
Friday night, Love made all the Zion-Benton coaches and the Zee-Bee fans smile.
Love scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and was simply vicious on defense with 6 steals in leading Zion to a 70-53 win over visiting Lake Forest.
Because the Zee-Bees won by more than 6 points over the Scouts, they win the tiebreaker with Stevenson and will represent the North Suburban Lake in the conference title game at North Chicago on Wednesday night. This is the first title for Zion-Benton (25-3, 10-2) since joining the Lake Division three years ago.
"I am very proud of this team," Zion-Benton coach Don Kloth said. "There was a lot of hard work and effort that went into this and that makes this special."
Love was more than just a little special for Zion. As the top reserve on the Zee-Bees, he ignited a third-quarter rally that gave the hosts a much-needed boost.
With Z-B leading 25-23 at intermission, Love stole the ball from Lake Forest (16-8, 7-5) on three straight possessions to open the third quarter. It kicked off a 15-3 run to extend the lead to 40-29.
"We had to step up on defense and stop their penetration," Love said. "We also did a good job of getting the ball inside in the second half."
Love scored 6 of his points in a third quarter that saw Zion outscore Lake Forest 25-16. Even though the Bees clung to a 50-39 lead into the fourth quarter, there was little doubt that they were in control.
"We were still down 11 going into the fourth quarter and against a team like that, it's hard to come back," said Lake Forest junior Matt Vogrich, who was shut down by the Zion-Benton attack. Vogrich had combined to score 56 points in his last two contests against Z-B; Friday night he had just 3 points and only 9 shots.
Zion let the Scouts get the lead under 10 points early in the fourth quarter but a final run that saw Love score 10 more of his points put the game on ice.
Markus Yarbrough was the only other Z-B player in double figures with 15 points. Andy Timson led Lake Forest with 12 points, and Kevin Berardini had 11.
Lakes 69, Sequoits 41: Kevin Guirand has been tough for the opposition to catch this year.
Instead, he's catching a bunch of records.
As a wide receiver in football, he hauled in a 95-yard touchdown reception, a team record.
And at Antioch on Friday night, Guirand became the third Lakes basketball player to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career as Lakes rolled past the Sequoits 69-41.
Guirand's 3-pointer in the second quarter gave him the milestone. It was announced shortly afterward and Lakes fans chanted "K-G, K-G, K-G."
One person did catch Guirand.
His mother gave him a bear hug as he was presented the game ball by Eagles coach Brian Phelan after the game.
"It feels great to know that I have accomplished something in my basketball career." Said Guirand, who finished with a game-high 19 points. "I'll never forget it. We were playing our biggest rival, Antioch, on their floor."
Guirand joined Sean Hertz and Chuck Kempf in the elite point club.
Lakes (19-6, 10-2) started fast, with two 8-0 runs in the first quarter en route to an 18-4 advantage. Guard Trey Williams (15 points) hit a pair of 3s.
The second quarter also featured a 10-0 run by the Eagles, as Dan Kalb poured in 4 of his 8 points to help the Eagles extend their lead to 22.
"We started off really well, on fire," Phelan said. "There was a stretch in the middle of the second quarter where we did miss 7 or 8 shots, but we adjusted and got some better shots in our system and we took care of business."
Frustration set in for Antioch as coach Mike Skinner was hit with two technical fouls in the fourth quarter and was sent to the locker room.
Antioch (1-22, 1-13) managed to outscore the Eagles in the final quarter as Lamarr Pottinger scored 6 of his 12 points in the period. Mike Powell also tallied 12 points for the Sequoits.
-- Matt Misiek
Grant 39, Vernon Hills 32: The visiting Bulldogs avenged a loss last month, as Curtis Oler scored 12 points.
Mike Shields and Marc Grischeau added 10 and 8 points, respectively, for Grant (15-9, 6-6) in the North Suburban Prairie game.
DaVaris Daniels had 12 points for Vernon Hills and Kenny Rideout finished with 10.
Marist 57, Carmel 37: Christian Matthews scored 20 points for Marist (14-12, 6-6) in the East Suburban Catholic Conference game.
Carmel fell to 4-22 overall.