Bears' Boys Done In By Third Quarter Thumping

Lake Zurich’s 43-28 loss to Warren was a strange game indeed. In a low scoring contetst, Lake Zurich was down 12-9 at the half, which is about what teams typically score in one quarter. What was encouraging during the first two quarters is how determined the Bears played on defense.

Unable to drive inside against the Blue Devils, who executed near-flawless man coverage, Lake Zurich almost matched them on defense. Ideally, this would have allowed their offense a chance to put together a run. Unfortunately, that never came to pass.

“We have some big guys on our team, but so do they,” said Bears coach Billy Packer. “It was just tough going towards the basket and not being able to get the ball in. We tried not to sag, going on the inside, but that just became tougher as the game went on.”

The Blue Devils scored the first six points of the game, on a layup by junior forward Nathan Boothe, a little hook under the net by junior guard Jon Geske and a layup by junior forward Darius Paul in which Paul took three steps without the ball hitting the floor but somehow wasn’t called for traveling. Finally, late in the period, Mirko Grcic tipped in a basket off the boards but missed a free throw for a three-point play.

The second quarter was almost as uneventful as the first, although the Bears strung together five straight points at the outset to take a brief 7-6 advantage, their only lead of the entire game. The quarter started with Grcic doing what he does so well, fighting his way in on a clogged lane for a tough basket. This was followed by Justin Peterson’s 3-pointer from the far left side, and Lake Zurich was up, 7-6.

Warren answered back with six conecutive points, including a steal on an inbounded Bears ball by senior guard Brandon Ferguson, who drove it in for an easy layup. Colin Rathe’s half-court drive and layup made it 12-9 Warren at the half.

Once again, in an all-too-familiar scenario, the Bears collapsed after the second quarter. “It’s the same story,” said Player. “We had problems with ball control, we didn’t do enough with our possessions. And with turnovers that we  committed, you can’t let a team like them (Warren) have that many opportunities. They’re too good.”

In the third quarter, the Bears were outscored 17-5, and that was really the story of the game, as they kept it close in every other period. After Geske scored 2-for-2 from the line, the 6’8” Boothe made an easy hook shot near the net. Grcic went 1-for-2 from the line to make it 16-10, then Warren went on an 11-0 run for a 27-10 lead, which included 6 points by Ferguson, all on easy layups. Junior guard JoVaughn Gaines also had a 3-point conversion after a layup.

The Bears played toe-to-toe with the Blue Devils in the fourth, as each team scored 14 points. But by then, the damage had been done. If the Bears can find a way to eliminate that one blowout quarter that they’ve been experiencing, they would undoubtedly find a way to file a couple more games in the “Win” column.

Bears Pause: Mike Boyd led Lake Zurich with 7 points; Mirko Grcic had 5. Lake Zurich is now 5-18 on the season, 2-8 in their conference.

Next Up: 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 12 at home versus Stevenson; 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 18 at home against Zion-Benton.