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Boys Basketball: Senior leads Lemont past Evergreen Park
Updated: December 7, 2011 10:24PM
Lemont’s Paulius Otruskevicius sure came to play Wednesday night.
The senior got the Indians off on the right foot by scoring all nine of their first-quarter points and Lemont stayed unbeaten, rolling to a 49-38 win over Evergreen Park in round-robin play at the Knights/Warriors Winter Classic at Lincoln-Way West.
“I just wanted to get off to a good start,” Otruskevicius said. “I tried to get to the basket and do what I do best. We got them in some foul trouble.”
Otruskevicius blocked a shot on Evergreen Park’s first possession of the game and converted a three-point play on the other end. He then scored twice off steals, getting his seventh point just over two minutes in. He added a layup later in the quarter.
He finished with a 13 points to lead Lemont (6-0, 3-0 in the tournament). Juozas Balciunas added eight and Jack Shereck six.
Brian Townsend Jr. paced Evergreen Park (2-8, 1-2 in the tournament) with 15 points and nine rebounds. Brandon White had six points and five rebounds.
The Indians spread the ball around in the second quarter as six different players scored on the way to a 25-17 halftime lead.
The Mustangs got no closer than eight in the second half as Lemont stretched the lead to 40-25 after three and easily held on despite an ugly fourth quarter.
The Indians got scoring from nine players, forced 23 turnovers and held Evergreen Park to 14 of 37 shooting from the field.
Lemont can clinch the tournament title with a win over Addison Trail on Dec. 14.
“For a team that’s won eight games each of the last two years, winning a tournament would be fantastic," Lemont coach Rick Runaas said. “Football’s in charge at our school,” Otruskevicius said. “We want to prove to everyone that we can play, too.”
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