Balance a key as Lake Zurich tops Waukegan

In its regional final game against St. Viator last year, Lake Zurich's boys basketball team tried to live a little too much by the 3-pointer.

And the Bears, who went cold from long range, wound up dying by it. They lost that game and were done for the season.

Having a more balanced offense is definitely a focus for Lake Zurich this season.

But that doesn't mean the Bears will stop shooting 3-pointers all together. Far from it.

Lake Zurich drained 11 three-pointers and attempted 24 altogether in a come-from-behind, 53-47 victory over Waukegan in the opening game of the Grant Thanksgiving tournament.

"We think we have a lot of good shooters on this team," said Lake Zurich senior point guard Nick Penny, who scored a game-high 22 points, including 3 three-pointers. He also had 10 rebounds and 6 assists. "But we can't live by the 3. That ended up burning us in the playoffs last year. We had a lot of good shooters last year, too. But if you go cold, that's how you lose. We settled for outside shots, we started missing and they (St. Viator) beat us in a really close game.

"We want to be able to get to the basket, too."

The Bears did that against Waukegan, and once the defense collapsed, they would often kick the ball back out to open shooters who were all set up beyond the arc.

Junior guard Michael Bens (8 points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter to put Lake Zurich, which trailed for most of the game, up for good.

"Michael Bens is a key player for us and that second 3 he hit was really big and I'm so happy for him that he was able to knock that down. That was big for his confidence because this is really his first varsity game (as a starter)," Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. "I'm just proud of our guys that they stayed the course when we were down. We were going hard, we kept shooting and it worked out.

"We have a lot of shooters out there. We start four 3-point shooters (Michael Bens, Nick Meyer, Nick Penny and Chris Trybula), and sometimes we'll have five on the floor.

Meyer, who finished with 12 points, had 3 three-pointers.

Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw said he wishes he could have scouted Lake Zurich beforehand, just to get a better feel for who the most dangerous 3-point shooters are.

"We were expecting that (kind of 3-point shooting)," Ashlaw said. "But with better scouting, you know who their guys are a little bit more and our guys would understand where screens are coming from. The first games are a little more on a wing and a prayer."

Waukegan wasn't sure what to expect out of a majority of its rotation either. The Bulldogs start freshman Bryant Brown but play fellow freshmen Ja'Dyn Brown and Jordan Brown heavy minutes as well.

Bryant Brown finished with 12 points, just behind a team-high 15 points from junior Carson Newsome.

"I'm pleased and proud," Ashlaw said. "Obviously, we want to win. But this is a process. This is going to take time. This is going to be learning with three freshmen on the floor."