Naperville North puts distance between it and Lake Park
Each game brings Naperville North a step closer to an outright DuPage Valley Conference championship.
It also brings a fresh sigh of relief.
In a showdown between the DVC's top two teams, Naperville North escaped with Friday's intense 54-49 victory over Lake Park in Roselle.
The win give the Huskies (17-3, 10-1) a two-game lead on Lake Park (14-7, 8-3) and at least a three-game lead on the rest of the conference with five games remaining. Naperville North's won 12 of 13 games overall and eight straight in the DVC.
"It just feels a lot better to know we're first in the DVC," said Huskies forward Mitch Lewis, who scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. "We just needed to take control of the ball and play some defense and just come together as a team."
After nine second-half lead changes and eight ties, Naperville North took the lead for good on Jelani McClain's bucket that made it 46-44 with 3:30 left.
The outcome, however, was far from decided.
Bailey Vance, who scored all 11 of Lake Park's fourth-quarter points on his way to a game-high 19, brought the Lancers within 50-49 on a 3-pointer with 1:25 left. The Lancers had three chances to tie or take the lead but missed one shot and turned it over twice.
Lewis and Winston Elston combined for 4 free throws in the final 55 seconds to secure the huge road win.
"I thought if we could stay in the game, then this is a great experience for us," said Lake Park coach Josh Virostko, whose team continues to play without injured leading scorer Kenny Bogus. "We've got guys playing out of position still. We've got guys that haven't played all season, and it showed late. I can't be too mad at the guys because you're asking a lot of young teenagers when they haven't been in those situations."
Naperville North lunged to an 8-2 lead, but Lake Park's 16-2 run - highlighted by a trio of Dan Hynes 3-pointers - gave the Lancers their largest lead of 8 points. The Huskies narrowed it to 25-23 by halftime before the back-and-forth second-half action.
McClain and Chris Johnson had 11 points for the Huskies, while Mitch Jarosinski scored 12 points and Hynes 10 points for Lake Park.
"It's like a big breath of air," Huskies coach Jeff Powers said of the win. "I thought we did a real good job in the second half of matching their intensity. To play Wheaton North (on Tuesday) and these guys and come out with two road victories is huge in our conference."
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