Lemont Relies on Seniors to Get Past L-Way North

With only a pair of players back from a year ago, there were plenty of questions surrounding the makeup of Lemont's  boys basketball team this season.

And while the result of Monday's opener against Lincoln-Way North has to be kept in perspective, picking up a win certainly was a good sign for the Indians.

Lemont used a pair of big runs to jump out to a 21-point advantage, which was beneficial because the Phoenix staged a furious fourth-quarter rally. But, thanks to 18 points apiece from their returnees, seniors Evan Bridwell and Bill Luzzo, the Indians claimed a 65-58 win in North's Pheast of the Phoenix Tournament.

"We relied on our seniors, Bill (Luzzo) and Evan (Bridwell), and they really handled the ball well in the frontcourt and the backcourt," Lemont coach Rick Runaas said. "And late in the game, then, Paulus Otruskevicius had clear paths to the basket and took advantage.

"I didn't think that Lincoln-Way North would go away, and they certainly didn't. But I like the way we responded to them coming back. Last year, we lost a couple of games like this where we gave away leads. I wasn't happy with the way that we practiced in the first two weeks, but I thought we practiced real well last night. We played in the first half like we practiced last night."

The Phoenix (0-1), who were playing their first game for new coach John Terry, took a 16-15 lead when Trey Lewis (23 points, 5 rebounds) hit a 3-pointer at the end of the opening quarter.

They still led 18-17 early in the second quarter before Lemont (1-0) went on a 13-0 run to grab a 30-18 advantage with 1:01 left before the break.

Leading 30-20 at halftime, the Indians used an 11-0 run to start the third quarter to put them ahead by 21 points.

"This was a good way for us to start," Luzzo said. "It's always good to see young players produce and contribute to the team like they did.  Even though we're small, we run the ball and play good defense and that's how we like to produce our offense. When you're playing a bigger team, it is good to get the momentum early."

North closed within 45-31 after three periods and eventually cut the gap to 55-51 on a 3-pointer from Jake Harper (6 points, 11 rebounds) with 2:54 to play.

But Luzzo (6 rebounds) answered with a layup and Otruskevicius (15 points, 7 rebounds) hit a layup and Bridwell (11 rebounds) added two more to end the drama.

Lemont also received six points and six rebounds from Matt Lipowski, while North got 11 points and six rebounds from Brandon Collins and Riley Pakosz added nine points.

"You have to give Lemont credit, since they're a very well-coached team," Terry said. "They had some strong players who bodied us up very well and they executed their set plays to a tee. We spotted them 20 points and you're not going to win too many games when you allow the other team to shoot 35 free throws. That tells you right there that we didn't play solid defense.

"Also, we didn't shoot the ball well and the funny thing is that in practice we couldn't miss. But I was proud of them for never giving up, which a lot of teams would have done if they were down by 20 points."

In the earlier game in North's pool, Lincoln-Way East won its opener 68-43 over Thornton Fractional South behind 14 points from Jelani Yancy and 13 points from Jaelan Jones.