Lehnerer Finding His Rhythm and So is Sandburg Boys Basketball Team

Sandburg coaches and players expected to see a zone defense from their neighborhood rival.

Nick Lehnerer knew there would be shots to be had in the Eagles’ 68-57 boys basketball victory over Lincoln-Way East on Friday night in Frankfort.

He didn’t know they would all go in—well, almost all, anyway.

He scored a career-high 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting as Sandburg (7-6, 3-1) moved above the .500 mark in a show of its offensive firepower. Lehnerer hit his first five shots, three of them from 3-point distance. The Eagles jumped to leads of 15-5 and 21-9 in the early going.

He finished with six 3-pointers in eight attempts.

“He was making some tough shots,” Sandburg coach Todd Allen said. “East—they’re solid in their 2-3 zone. We prepared for it for a week. We’d like to think that we knew there would be some areas where we could attack, but Nick made tough shots.

“When a guy gets it going like that, it’s going to be tough to defend him. That’s the first time this year he’s really got his rhythm offensively. But, do you know what? He’s capable of that. He’s really a good player. When he gets it going, he’s tough.”

Lehnerer, a 6-1 senior guard who is attracting interest from Augustana and North Central College, brings a shooter’s mentality to the playing floor. He doesn’t need much room to pull the trigger.

“When you’re a shooter, it feels like you’ve got in that rhythm before, but it’s always nice to get it going in the game,” he said. “So, that’s fun. I think my highest (scoring  output previously) was 23 last year. No, I was never really thinking (about 30).

“I was just playing the game. If there were open shots, take them. If not, do what you’ve got to do. Get the win.”

The Eagles have been winning more often than not lately.

“Forty points in a half for us is a pretty good job,” Allen said of Sandburg’s 40-27 cushion over East at intermission. “We don’t get to there too often in a half.

“Obviously, Nick Lehnerer had it going. We’ve had a little adversity this year with missing some guys—guys missing games, all this and that. So, we’d like to think we’re going in the right direction here in the second half of the season.”