Lake Zurich continues to keep head above water

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Lake Zurich's Jerry Bauer (front) and Lake Forest's Sam Downey battle for a rebound during Friday's game. | Michael Schmidt~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: February 20, 2012 8:16AM

With the second half of the season underway, the race for the North Suburban Conference Lake Division title is shaping up to be a mad dash to the finish line. 

And although Warren and Mundelein High School are currently the front-runners, Lake Zurich hopes to again be the latest team to throw a wrench into things.  

The Bears host Warren on Friday. When the two teams met in Gurnee, in December, the Blue Devils won 53-38. Mirko Grcic, who’s drawing strong interest from NCAA Division III schools Augustana and Illinois-Wesleyan, had a game-high 22 points for LZ in that contest.  

“(Lake Zurich) and Warren are both very familiar with each other,” said LZ coach Billy Pitcher. “And a lot of the guys play summer ball with some of their players too, so for the most part we know what to expect. It’s gonna be a real challenge, though.” 

The good news for the Bears (11-9 overall, 2-4 NSC Lake) is that they’re playing some of their best ball of the season lately, despite fading late in their most recent outing, a 58-53 loss at Lake Forest. Grcic had a game-high 23 points in that one, while Jeff O’Brien (13 points) and freshman Mike Travlos (9 points) continued their solid contributions.  

And although Travlos has seemed right at home since being called up as an emergency replacement in December, there are no plans as of now to insert him into the starting lineup. 

“We talk about his role, but as good as he’s played, he’s only been up with us for a few games,” Pitcher said. “I really like the energy and spark Mike’s given us off the bench, but as I’ve told every guy on our roster, it’s not how you start the games, it’s how you finish them.” 

That fact was abundantly evident against LF. Despite shooting 50 percent (14-for-28) during the first three quarters against the Scouts — and leading nearly the entire game — LZ shot just 2-for-12 in the fourth quarter. A large part of the reason was LF’s outstanding defensive intensity. It’s also a key reason the Bears aren’t putting too much emphasis on just one loss. 

“We’ve still won nine of our last 13 games,” Pitcher said. “We just have to learn from some of the mistakes we made down the stretch against LF, and use those lessons against Warren.” 

Blue Devils coach Chuck Ramsey, who said this will be his final season coaching Warren, was in attendance scouting the Bears against Stevenson. Fresh off last year’s IHSA Class 4A second-place finish in the state tournament last March, Warren still boasts a pair of Division I recruits in center Nathan Boothe (Toledo) and forward Darius Paul (Western Michigan). Boothe and Paul create significant size problems for the Bears. 

“We want to try and utilize the whole floor against Warren,” Pitcher said. “They do create some length mismatches for us, so one of the keys will be our guard play. We’d like our guards to make it as uncomfortable as possible for them to get the ball into those guys (Boothe and Paul) in the paint. And if they do get the ball into the paint, we’ll need extra help defensively.” 

On offense, the Bears will need secondary scoring help if they hope to upset the Blue Devils. One way to do that is by getting to the free-throw line, something LZ has excelled at recently. The Bears have attempted a combined 49 free throws in their last two games, making 32 of them. 

Senior forward Doug Murphy, and junior guards Ryan Roach and John Repplinger, have shown they’re capable of scoring in bunches.  

“We need guys like Jeff (O’Brien), Doug, Ryan and John to all step up,” Pitcher said. “We said, coming into the season, Jeff was going to be an X factor. He had a 20-point game earlier in the season against Wheaton North, and since then has been in double figures on a number of occasions. 

Warren (11-2, 4-1) is coming off an impressive 72-53 NSC Lake win over Libertyville last week. 

“It was a tough loss our last time out against LF, and it was a game we should have won,” Pitcher said. “Now we have to steal one away from someone else. Were going to do our best to try and make that happen against Warren.”