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Sports

Lake Forest a Youthful, Hardscrabble Bunch

The Patch Hardwood Tour examines boys high school basketball on a weekly rotational basis, focusing on teams in a 12-town region. Its intent is to celebrate and inform about prep hoops; the best high school sport in the state. The Tour will be stopping in

The upscale demographics of the village they represent aren’t usually accompanied by blue-collar references. But when one watches the Lake Forest High Scouts play basketball, the inclination is to envision hard hats and lunch pails rather than silk ties and white shirts.

 The Patch Hardwood Tour completed its 17-team cycle this past week with a Friday night trip to Libertyville High, where the Scouts, the last unseen team on this column’s circuit, posted an impressive down-and-dirty 71-58 North Suburban Lake conference road win over the Libertyville Wildcats.  It was Lake Forest’s  first division victory of the year.   

Phil LaScala-coached teams always play like hard-working day laborers, and despite the team’s overall  7-9 mark, this year’s Lake Forest group appears to be no exception to that rule. It’s a very young, but deep club.  The starting lineup includes three juniors and a sophomore, which bodes extremely well for the future.  The team’s aggressive defensive bent makes for numerous substitutions.  On Friday, a dozen Scouts saw the court, with starting forward Alex Schwartz and guard Jack Ford the only two seniors among them.

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 The senior pair are obvious leaders, especially Ford.  The scrappy guard came off the bench during crunch time against Libertyville and epitomized the kind of elbow-grease attitude that rubs off on teammates, diving for loose balls and playing hard-nosed defense.   

Junior Thomas Durrett showed he could put the ball in the hole last season as a sophomore on the varsity, and on this night was again the team’s top scorer with 16, leading a balanced attack that saw four Scouts hit for double figures. Durrett’s long 3-pointer with 4:04 left in the game was the dagger that squashed Libertyville hopes in this one, giving Lake Forest a nine-point lead.   

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I’m especially impressed with sophomore guard Carter Bass, another second-year varsity player who performs with confidence beyond his years.  Bass has a solid basketball frame and plays taller than his 6-foot-2 height . 

With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, he popped in a team-best eight points down the stretch for a total of 14 for the contest.    

The Scouts may be a year away from returning to serious contention in the very rugged North Suburban Lake, but except for Warren and Mundelein, there’s no conference team they can’t hang with right now.  Check that.  They only lost by a point to Mundelein earlier this season.    The bottom line is, don’t relax when you play Lake Forest.

 Libertyville struggles to win despite star’s return   

The  Wildcats of Libertyville are a bit more perplexing these days.  The team performed admirably when its top scorer, Ryan Barth, was out with a knee injury.  Junior guards Ellis Matthews and Griffin Pils stepped up big time to keep the team competitive against some tough foes.  Matthews, especially, filled the scoring void in Barth’s absence, averaging 19 per contest in the Wheeling holiday tournament and making the prestigious all-tourney team as the Cats finished fourth in the field.

Barth returned two weeks ago and Libertyville played well against front-running Mundelein before finally succumbing 82-75.  The senior, wearing a small brace on his left knee, looked excellent against Lake Forest Friday night, scoring his team’s first three buckets on the way to a game-high 19. At one point he busted by a Lake Forest defender with an excellent stutter step; a good indication that the knee could withstand sudden stress.  But while Pils (12 points) played a solid second half, Matthews (5 points) had one of those nightmare games, failing to score a single basket from the floor and getting shut out in the second half.     

I’m thinking that if Barth and Matthews get hot at the same time, Libertyville will be formidable offensively and go out and slay a giant or two before the season is over.  But the very next night after losing to Lake Forest, the Wildcats matched Lakes brick for brick on the way to an ugly 28-26 non-conference win.   

One somewhat encouraging sight against Lake Forest was 7-foot senior Keegan McAuliffe getting some floor time in the first quarter, something I have not witnessed in the big guy’s two years on the varsity.  And even better, he stroked in an 8-footer just outside the lane on his only shot.  He did not return to the game, but if it’s coach Scott Bogumil’s plan to work McCauliffe slowly into the rotation, the Wildcats could end up with a sizeable presence no one else in the area could match. I’d personally like to see the big guy get more floor time in this, his last year of eligibility.   Filling the Lanes: Other noteworthy accomplishments last week

Best Week

Cary –Grove Trojans (8-9, 2-0) are sitting atop Fox Valley Valley after a pair of sweet conference home wins over  Dundee-Crown (50-38)  and Crystal Lake South (32-27).

Biggest Shocker Jacobs Golden Eagles  (9-6, 1-0) shook up the Fox Valley Valley with a major road win over the Huntley Red Raiders.  Guard Mike Peterson was key in the victory, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.  The Golden Eagles stretched their win streak to three with a 61-40 victory over DeKalb at the Hononegah Invite before bowing to Zion-Benton 69-60 at that same event.  

Streaking Barrington Broncos  (13-6, 3-2) beat Hoffman Estates 48-37 in Mid-Suburban West game to get fifth win in row.

Fremd Vikings  (12-6, 4-1) get third, then fourth win in a row with triumphs over McHenry (56-54) and Mid-Suburban West foe Conant (55-46).

Grayslake Central Rams (7-8, 3-1) ups its winning streak to three in a row and five of last six with big conference triumphs  over rival Grayslake North (63-49) and Woodstock (73-40).

Palatine Pirates (7-11, 3-2) continue their mid-season surge with a pair of solid victories over Vernon Hills on the road (49-44) and a Mid-Suburban West conference home win over Schaumburg (54-48). Their win streak is now three with a huge conference contest against equally hot Fremd at home on Saturday night.  

Also of note Crystal Lake Central (13-3, 3-0) struggled, then surged to beat Fox Valley Fox foe Prairie Ridge (3-12, 1-2) 65-41.

Lake Forest Scouts (7-9, 1-5) played solid ball in their 71-59 road win over Libertyville to net their first North Suburban Lake conference win of the season.

Lake Zurich Bears (4-13, 1-5) broke their longest losing streak of the year (five games) with a 55-36 triumph over forever-struggling Round Lake on Saturday.

Rating the Top Teams on the Hardwood Tour

1. Crystal Lake Central Tigers (13-3) Big test Wednesday at Grayslake North (up from second)

2. Huntley Red Raiders (12-4) Nearly dropped a pair (down from first)

3. Barrington Broncos (12-6) 3-0 last week

4. Fremd Vikings (12-6) Two solid wins; big game at Palatine Saturday

5. Crystal Lake South Gators (9-6) Two losses, but one by just a point to Huntley while missing starters

6. Buffalo Grove Bison (11-7) 1-2 in busy week  

7. Jacobs Golden Eagles (9-6) 2-1 week included big win at Huntley (up from ninth)

8. Libertyville Wildcats (8-8) Staggered in at 1-1 last weekend (down from seventh)

9. Grayslake North Knights (11-4) Can’t get over Grayslake Central hump (down from eighth)

10. Stevenson Patriots (8-8) Looking for signature win   

11. Dundee-Crown Chargers (8-5) Trio of games this week, two in conference) 

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