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Boys Basketball: Lake Zurich dominates vs Zion-Benton
Lake Zurich High School varsity basketball player, Ryan Roach (44), tries to keep control of the ball during a game against Zion-Benton High School, at Lake Zurich High School, on Thursday, December 15, 2011. | Ruthie Hauge ~ Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 15, 2011 10:00PM
Visiting Zion-Benton raced out to a 15-6 first-quarter lead, but Lake Zurich dominated the rest of the way to win 54-47 on Thursday in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division game.
Mirko Grcic, a 6-6 senior, scored 24 points, and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bears (4-5 overall, 1-3 in the division).
Milik Yarbrough, Zion-Benton’s 6-5 wing, had 16 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
The Zee-Bees, who have not played a home game and won’t play one until Jan 6, also are 4-5 and 1-3 on the year.
This was Game 2 of an 11-games-in-16-days stretch for Lake Zurich, which includes five games at the Jacobs tourney and four at Pekin.
The stretch started with an overtime win over Highland Park on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be crazy. We’ll see how it goes,” said Bears coach Billy Pitcher.
In the first quarter, Zion showed how good a team it might be down the road.
The Zee-Bees had assists on six of their seven first-quarter hoops, with Yarbrough getting three dimes and 6-7 Curtis Cook scoring seven points. Zion also had a 10-5 rebounding edge.
But after that, Z-B was 11-of-37 shooting and was outrebounded 24-12.
“We got off to a good start, but I think they just outplayed us in all facets,” said Z-B coach Don Kloth. “They attacked the basket, hit perimeter shots and made their free throws.”
Grcic led the surge, hitting 10-of-19 from the field.
Pitcher praised the play of point guard Ryan Roach, who sat the first four games this season because of a suspension.
“Obviously, Mirko is a great player, getting to the lane and scoring, but I thought the big difference was Ryan Roach for us at point guard.
“He’s sort of worked his way back to how he was playing at the end of last year when he came up as a sophomore. And he had a great summer for us.”
Roach had eight points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Both teams now head to the Jacobs tourney which starts on Saturday.
“We have struggled with consistency this year,” said Kloth. “We’ve had some bad halves and bad quarters. That’s something that hopefully will improve with experience.”
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