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Lake Park adds another victory

It took about a month for Lake Park's boys basketball team to eclipse its victory total from a year ago.

Expect a total eclipse by the time this season's over.

Trevor Montiel's two free throws with 10.3 seconds left gave the Lancers a 51-50 victory over Addison Trail in Saturday's opening round of the Glenbard West Holiday Classic in Glen Ellyn.

Lake Park's fourth straight win improved its record to 7-4 - one more victory than the Lancers had all of last season. And they show no signs of slowing down.

"In the fourth quarter we really felt like if we ran our stuff we'd score, and defensively we all have trust in each other," said Montiel, who finished with a game-high 24 points. "We've got a lot of juniors in our lineup and now we're starting to get that confidence going with all that experience we're getting. It's great when everyone plays together like we did today."

Other than the opening 12 seconds of the fourth quarter, Montiel's free throws accounted for the Lancers' only lead of the final period. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Addison Trail's Adem Mehmeti and J.T. Daniels, who missed the last five minutes of the third quarter after picking up his third foul, gave the Blazers (7-5) a 45-39 lead.

Five straight free throws then put Addison Trail's advantage at 50-44 with 1:30 left in the game. The Blazers failed to score again.

Luke Sgarbossa, who tallied 20 points, knocked down a 3-pointer and Joey Czaja scored to make it 50-49 with 43 seconds left.

A jump ball gave the ball back to the Lancers, who quickly found Montiel. The 6-foot-5 junior not only got to the line, but it was also the fifth foul on Daniels, who left with 16 points.

Addison Trail couldn't get a shot off in the final 10 seconds.

"Overall that was one of the cleaner games we've had," said Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons. "We did some nice things, so I'm proud of our effort. It's just that last minute we didn't do enough to get that extra basket or get to the foul line one more time. I feel like if we did that, the ballgame would have been ours."

Neither side led by more than 4 points until the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.

Mehmeti led Addison Trail with 17 points while Sheldon Allgood added 14 points.

Round-robin tournament play continues on Wednesday as Lake Park takes on Hoffman Estates and Addison Trail faces Glenbard West.

"We didn't panic," said Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher. "We stayed the course, we didn't change our game plan. We just kept sticking with things, even when we were down near the end. With how well Addison Trail played, we think this was our best win of the year."

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