Lake Park revs it up, speeds past Niles North
If you're a fan of Indianapolis 500-style boys basketball, then the Niles North-Lake Park quarterfinal game Tuesday afternoon in Wheeling's Hardwood Classic was the place to be.
The two teams sped at race-car velocity most of the game, throwing in floor-burn dives for loose balls in lieu of collisions and slick moves to the basket in place of hairpin-turn maneuvering.
In the end, Lake Park's (6-3) boys basketball varsity team conserved more fuel by employing its deeper bench, taking advantage of its open looks and defending its territory en route to a 61-51 win and a spot in Wednesday's semifinals at 7:15.
Fewer turnovers and better shot selection wound up being the difference for a team accustomed to having success here.
"We executed down the stretch," said Lancers coach Josh Virostko, whose club took control with a 7-point run to open the second half and pulled away in the fourth quarter on the ball handling of senior point guard Daniel Hynes and clutch shooting around the basket by center Mitchell Jarosinski, who paced Lake Park with 17 points. Hynes had 16 and alerted Niles North to his presence with back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter.
"Hynes was very solid," said Virostko.
"(Coach) said he gave me a green light," said Hynes - and so he did, hitting 6 of 10 overall plus 2 of 3 at the foul line.
"All I ask is we get a good shot," said Virostko.
When he wasn't hitting, Hynes was setting up Jarosinski, who used his bulk to overpower smaller defenders in the post, hitting 7 of 9 from the floor, mostly right around the basket. And senior Bailey Vance finessed his way around the basket to 14 points.
But on a team with more underclassmen than seniors, Hynes knows how important it is to lead and play steadily.
"I'm the senior. I have three years experience. We have a lot of young, aggressive talent," said Hynes.
Such as starter Diamante Smith, a sophomore, Daniel Spejcher, a sophomore off the bench, and Garrett Fant, a junior off the bench. They all contributed important minutes, along with Solomon Sangobowale, yet another athletic sophomore.
But Niles North is young, too - the Vikings start four sophomores, and for the better part of three quarters they gave Lake Park fits with their quickness - especially Crishawn Cook, who had a game-high 20, mostly on slashes to the basket. But Vikings foul trouble and Lake Park's steady rotation of players to keep fresh legs on the floor paid off.
Still, Virostko is waiting for the team to play to its full potential. He witnessed too many missed shots right around the basket and some defensive breakdowns.
"Defensively, we made some mistakes," Virostko said, notably letting Cook and teammate Jamal Stephenson get penetration.
Hynes suggested Lake Park needs to do a better job staying in front of the players it is defending - which hopefully will yield more transition buckets.
"We've got to move our feet," Hynes said.