Big fourth quarter propels Zion-Benton past Lake Zurich

On back-to-back 3-pointers from Noah DeLuga, the Lake Zurich lead had grown to 6 points over visiting Zion-Benton in the teams' North Suburban Conference boys basketball opener on Tuesday night.

It was still early in the third quarter, and the Bears held that lead at the end of the quarter.

And then the dunk-a-thon started for the Zee-Bees (5-1). Specifically, Damotae Taylor put down 4 dunk shots. He held onto the rim too long on one and was rewarded a technical, but it didn't matter in the end.

Zion-Benton's fourth-quarter run netted 23 points and, ultimately, a 61-53 win.

Lake Zurich guard J.R. Cison had 14 points at halftime, but he then injured his shooting hand. He finished with a team-high 18 points.

"We had a very good first half," Cison said. "And then Zion went on a little run."

"That was our best 23 minutes of basketball we've played," Lake Zurich's first-year coach Terry Coughlin said. "I know we are not very, big but we were taking open shots."

The first half couldn't have been any closer. Will Tucker (14 points, 8 rebounds) and DeLuga opened the game with 3-pointers. Zion-Benton took a 14-12 lead to the second quarter.

Cison was just warming up in the second quarter. At one point late in the half, the senior scored 10 points in a row for the Bears. That was two 3-pointers and 4 straight free throws.

The Bears (2-4) took a 28-26 halftime lead. Two free throws from Tucker gave the Bears a four-point lead late in the third quarter. However, a Taylor dunk and a Zee-Bee 3 put the visitors point down heading to the decisive fourth quarter.

Actually, it was still a game when Tucker drilled a 3-pointer early in the quarter. The Bears were down just a basket at 45-43.

"Inconsistency has been hurting us in the early going," Coughlin said. "Still there were a lot of positives tonight."

DeLuga backed up the leading scorers with 12 points, all coming on 3-pointers.