North Lawndale mows down Clark

North Lawndale sure wasn’t going to make it two in a row.

Coming off their first loss and dropping from the top spot, the No. 4 Phoenix (4-1, 1-0) came out quick and hard to put Wednesday’s Red West match up with Clark (0-7, 0-1) out of reach early. North Lawndale ended up rolling to a 90-46 win at Collins High School.

“We felt like we had come back after that loss,” North Lawndale’s Jon Mills said. “It’s better to lose early than late.”

The Phoenix jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back. By halftime, they were ahead 47-12.

Mills led North Lawndale’s highlights of the first half when he stole a ball, pushed it up court and elevated over a Clark defender for a one-handed monster dunk. The fans lost themselves.

“My coach tells me if I’m going to go, go hard,” Mills said. “I just had to run-over somebody.”

Mills (seven points, seven rebounds), Zilijan Jones (eight points), John Taylor (nine points, 10 assists), Jermaine Winfield (17 points, seven rebounds, four steals), Terry Johnson (11 points)and Javony Austin (11 points, seven rebounds)contributed for North Lawndale.

Free throws, though, still hampered North Lawndale. The Phoenix shot 7-of-14 from the line. It cost them Saturday’s game to Peoria Manual.

“It’s all mental,” Mills said. “We’re just shooting the ball. We need to more mentally prepared at the line.”