Lyons Basketball Continues March With Comeback, Ranked 11th in State

Nick Zeisloft has had some pretty clutch performances in his high school basketball career.

Few of them, however, could top his showing against Hinsdale South Tuesday night.

The 6-foot-3, Illinois State-bound shooting guard scored 25 points—13 of them in the fourth quarter—to lead (20-2, 10-0) to a 67-58 away win.

“Any win on the road against a team that shoots that well is a huge win for us,” Zeisloft said. “We really grinded it out tonight, together, until things started going our way.”

Lyons head Coach Tom Sloan gave credit to the team for staying persistent and continually gifting Zeisloft open looks at the basket.

“We have several guys that perform really big when the chips are down,” Sloan said. “Nick [Zeisloft] scored the ball a lot in the fourth quarter, but it was a total team effort as far as getting him shots.”

After trailing 38-28 at halftime and 48-35 with 4:35 left in the third quarter, Lyons—now ranked No. 11 by the Chicago Tribune—put on a massive fightback to claim its tenth consecutive victory.

South shot lights out in the first half, with guards Joe Petrak and Phil George and big-man Brock Benson all combining for 32 points in the opening two quarters.

“At halftime we talked about the fact that they had way too many uncontested looks at the basket,” Sloan said. “We got beat off the dribble and didn’t challenge shots very well, but finally our effort in the fourth quarter ended up making the difference.”

The visitors emerged a different team out of halftime, tightening their defense and holding the Petrak-George-Benson trio to a mere 10 points combined in the second half.

Zeisloft suggested the play of senior teammate Spencer Mahoney fueled the defensive lockdown.

“In the second half, we got back Spencer who was in foul trouble in the first half," Zeisloft said. “Having him on the court helps us out a lot on the defensive end.”

Senior forward Nick Burt scored 10 points for the Lions while senior guard Eric Powers added eight.

With the loss, Hinsdale South moves to 15-9 on the year despite demonstrating signs of legitimate talent all evening.

“This was a very good Hinsdale South team, one that probably had its best shooting night of the year,” Lyons forward Hank Wilson—who scored six points on the night—said. “We were fortunate that playing with more effort defensively allowed us to come back.”

Sloan also commended South’s home display, citing the Hornets as one of the best sides the Lions have seen during their 2010-11 campaign.

“[Hinsdale South] is one of the better teams we’ve played all year,” Sloan said. “They shot the ball very well and were difficult to defend.”

Lyons next travels to conference rival Hinsdale Central Friday night, a squad the Lions trounced 80-53 in January.

“It’s going to be a much tougher game,” Zeisloft said. “They looked good and won by a solid margin against Oak-Park at home recently, so I think they’ll give us a good fight.”