Analysis: Get That Ball Moving

Lemont's Evan Bridwell snagged a rebound and then took it all the way to the other end of the court for a layup. Then, he drained a long fadeaway jumper from just inside the three-point line.

On the Indians next possession, he showed off his left hand, converting a layup. Bridwell had scored six straight points as part of an 8-0 run by Lemont, which pushed the Indians ahead 23-20 midway through the second quarter of Tuesday's boys basketball game against Stagg.

"We weren't getting it done on defense like we usually do," Stagg's Darius Draper said following the Chargers' come-from-behind 62-50 victory. "Sometimes our defense creates offense for us, so we were having trouble scoring."

Unable to create much in transition, the Chargers spread out their offense and worked the ball around. Point guard Dan Ahern led the way as Brett Kaiser, Scott Lyons, Sean Dwyer, Ryan Dahleen and Draper all got touches.

The pin-point passing made the Indians work defensively, and it opened up opportunities. Draper and Ahern drained back-to-back three-pointers midway through the second quarter to erase a 23-20 deficit, and Draper added a three-point play the old-fashioned way with 3:01 left in the first half to put the Chargers ahead 29-23.

"I thought we didn't play good defense," Lemont coach Rick Runaas said. "We allowed too many baseline drives and our rotations on the backside weren't very good."

Lemont's defense did force the Chargers to adjust, and they did, creating easy scoring chances against the Indians' aggressive style of play.

"Give them a lot of credit for doubling Draper in the post," Stagg coach John Daniels said. "We weren't able to post them up much, and that took us out of our sets so we had to take them off the dribble more."

Kaiser was a prime beneficiary of the good ball movement, scoring 14 points, while Ahern and Draper both scored 17 points.

 "I thought we passed the ball pretty well in the second half," Draper said. "Then, we got the lead and maintained it."

Ahern made three 3-pointers, Draper drained a pair and Lyons and Dwyer both converted a field goal from beyond the arc.

"We were kind of off, 4-for-14 for threes in the first half, and that's not too good," Draper said. "We did a much better job looking for shots in the second half."

The Best Play: Scott Lyons' momentum was pulling him toward the floor when he unleashed a long pass to Stagg's Dan Ahern. Ahern was able to catch up to the ball and lay it in for an easy basket with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

Injured: Lemont coach Rick Runaas confirmed that injuries have ended the seasons of juniors Germantas Valionis and Paulus Otruskevicius. "They're done now," he said.

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