Lake Park falls in OT

Well into the fourth quarter of Monday's Lake Park-Notre Dame opening-round contest at the Wildcat Hardwood Classic at Wheeling, it was pretty hard to distinguish which team was the pre-tournament top seed.

Lake Park, playing with energy and spirit, had the Dons on their heels, leading all the way, looking like a championship contender and often on cruise control against the rugged East Suburban Catholic Conference entry.

But foul problems for leading scorers Matt Drufke and Dominique Spencer and Notre Dame's ability to run 6-foot-5 player after 6-foot-5 player into and out of the game like so many interchangeable pieces eventually wore down the Lancers (4-6) in Notre Dame's 71-65 overtime victory. Lake Park will meet host Wheeling at 9 a.m. today.

For Lake Park coach Josh Virostko, the loss still had some solid positives. Most importantly, he's looking for his team to get past its tendency to play "not to lose" and stay aggressive throughout. After playing near flawless basketball early, the Lancers seemed to back off little by little as Notre Dame became more assertive.

"Good teams overcome that and we're trying to become a good team," he said.

Notre Dame had forged ahead on the solid play of Tim Hirsch and Quinton Chievous down the stretch. But no one scored in the final 1:25 after Lake Park tied it. Drufke, who had dominated in the first half, found the going tougher in the second half with four fouls and had only 10 free throws after intermission. He finished with 27 points.

"He's our leader. Matt's got to lead us," Virostko said of his best player. Foul trouble not withstanding, "We've got to figure out how to finish close games."

It wasn't always close. Lake Park led 41-27 when Hirsch and Chievous started a comeback. Chievous dominated in overtime against foul-plagued Lake Park, while guard Shawn Wallace, clamping down on Drufke, came alive on offense with 8 of his 16 points in the four-minute session, including a game-busting 3-pointer for the Dons (8-3).