Lake Forest Has the Fight, But Will Need More

There haven’t been too many life preservers for Lake Forest High School’s basketball team this season.

And with three games left in the regular season and the postseason beckoning, Lake Forest (10-13 overall, 3-8 in North Suburban Lake) has a choice to either tread water or make some waves.

“We need to execute our stuff and take good shots,” Scouts coach Phil LaScala said. “At times we did and at times we didn’t.”

LaScala’s second comment referred to Saturday’s 58-46 NSC Lake loss to Warren, which ran its record to 22-3 overall, 11-0 in the conference with the win.

In the first half, the Scouts hung tough until the last five minutes of the second quarter when the Blue Devils went on a 15-5 run to lead 32-21 at halftime. Warren appeared to put the game away with a 15-5 advantage in the third quarter to assume a 47-26 cushion heading into the final stanza.

However, Lake Forest’s trapping press created a 16-5 swing that closed the gap to 52-42 with 1:56 left to play.

“It was good to see we still had a little fight in us,” LaScala said.

Warren regrouped to stave off the rally, returning to its size advantage inside where 40 of its points came from 6-foot-6 Darius Paul (16 points), 6-7 Nathan Boothe (12) and 6-5 Jeremiah Jackson (12).

Height and experience disadvantages have been a given all season, but LaScala knows looking past both will dictate how this season plays out.

“Rebounding is about heart, and I’m not saying we don’t have heart,” he said. “It’s more of a mental possession and being accountable for it every possession. We can’t win without rebounding. We’ve been emphasizing it all year and we’re gotten better at it.”

Conversely, the Scouts’ scoring came from two main sources, Thomas Durrett (16) and Adam Schwartz (11), who combined for 12 of their 27 points during the fourth quarter. That needs to remain in the final weeks ahead, but with more consistent support.

“Those two need to score,” LaScala said of Durrett and Schwartz. “That’s their role.”

Earlier in the week: The Scouts fell to Zion-Benton, 67-55, on Feb. 9 despite 24 points from Durrett. The ZeeBees led 60-54 late when Milik Yarbrough converted a four-point play after being fouled while sinking a 3-pointer.

Regional Pairing: Regional pairings were announced Saturday and the Scouts will face Lake Zurich at 6 p.m. Feb. 28 in the opening round of the Palatine Fremd Regional. Lake Forest split with Lake Zurich this season, winning the last meeting, 47-44, on Feb. 4. The winner faces Zion-Benton at 7:30 p.m. March 1 at Fremd.