Scouts ride Vogrich, Sobinsky to OT win

Lake Forest's Matt Vogrich (center) shoots between Warren defenders Shahron Thomas (left) and Ryan Maguire.
(Michael Schmidt/News-Sun)

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Lake Forest senior Jonathan Sobinsky knew Friday wasn’t just an ordinary game.

Sobinsky’s task was to guard Warren star and Illinois recruit Brandon Paul. Scouts coach Phil LaScala even made a video for Sobinsky to study, filled with Paul.

“I watched and learned everything he likes to do,” Sobinsky said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stop him, he’s a great player. I just had to do enough to slow him down.”

Sobinsky did just that, and Michigan recruit Matt Vogrich took care of the scoring to help the No. 18 Scouts to a 66-64 overtime win in Gurnee.

Vogrich scored 35 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. His two free throws with six seconds to play in overtime accounted for the final advantage. No. 2 Warren had a chance to tie, but David Duncan couldn’t connect on a turnaround jumper at the buzzer.

Paul finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds, but he fouled out with 2:51 to play in the overtime.

“It’s great to play against [Paul],” Sobinsky said. “A couple years from now I’m going to be in college watching him play on television and I can always say I guarded him.”

Vogrich and Paul battled to overtime earlier this year. The Blue Devils won that matchup.

“I think we let down in overtime last time,” Vogrich said. “I knew we couldn’t do that again.”

The Scouts didn’t score a field goal in the overtime, instead they were continually able to get to the basket and get fouled. That was a problem for Warren.

The Blue Devils had Paul and Duncan scoring on the perimeter and 6-4 James Poliquin (18 points, six rebounds) scoring in the paint, but they lack a player with the ability to get to the basket consistently. That showed in the free-throw statistics. Lake Forest shot 31 free throws and Warren had 19.

“When you look at the stats everything is very close,” Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. “The free-throw shooting is the only major difference, so that certainly hurts us.”

Mitch Hopfinger added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Scouts (14-3, 7-1 North Suburban Lake). Sobinsky finished with five points and seven rebounds.

Duncan scored 12 and grabbed four rebounds for the Blue Devils (15-2, 6-1).

Paul drained a three with eight seconds to play in regulation. That tied the game and Duncan came up with a steal on the next possession to send the game into overtime.

“I was pretty close to [Paul] when he made that three,” Sobinsky said. “I could feel his sweat falling on me, but sometimes when a player is that good there just isn’t much you can do.”