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Boys Basketball: Omar Lozoya shoots Leyden past Willowbrook
Updated: January 7, 2012 12:04AM
Timing was everything Friday night for Omar Lozoya in Leyden’s 57-37 West Suburban Gold boys basketball win at Willowbrook.
The Eagles’ junior finished with a team-best 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting from the field, and all of his baskets were three-pointers that keyed a 17-2 second-quarter run for Leyden (9-4, 2-2).
That run, starting with Lozoya’s first three-pointer with 5 minutes, 6 seconds remaining in the period, enabled the Eagles to turn a 15-14 advantage into a 32-16 halftime lead.
“The coaches just told me to keep on shooting, so I shot with confidence, even after I missed my first couple of shots,” Lozoya said.
Leyden coach Bill Heisler said Lozoya’s four consecutive three-pointers in a span of 3:09 was the turning point of the game.
“We got off to a slow start,” Heisler said. “I was surprised to see Willowbrook come out in a zone because we have some pretty good shooters, but we didn’t hit our early shots. We seemed a big tight.
“Willowbrook had pulled within one point of us before Omar starting hitting those threes. Not only did that provide us with points we needed at the time, it loosened up everyone else. We sometimes have a tendency to stand around and watch (leading scorer) Alex (Herrera). We have other guys who are capable, but we need them to step up, and Omar did that for us tonight.”
Heisler also gave kudos to Anthony Gonzalez, who came off the bench to pull down 5 rebounds to go along with 6 points.
Herrera hit three three-pointers of his own and finished with 12 points, despite reinjuring a previously-hurt ankle just before halftime. Herrera still was able to play in the second half.
Starting forward Patrick Listwan went out about three minutes into the second quarter after being hit in the eye and never returned, but should be fine, Heisler said.
“It was more of a contact problem,” Heisler said. “The contact kind of swiped across his eye, and it swelled up a little. He also didn’t have any other contacts with him.”
Listwan did manage to contribute four points and three rebounds before leaving the game.
Willowbrook (2-13, 0-4) was never able to get back in the game after halftime. The Eagles extended their lead to 45-24 after three quarters, and the Warriors never got closer than 17 the rest of the way.
“We have talked about having the killer instinct, and I was glad to see that we didn’t take our foot off the accelerator, which is something that has been a problem for us in other games this year when we’ve had a lead,” Heisler said.
Ryan Rader led Willowbrook with 13 points, while teammates Josh Joiner and Tiger Greene each had 8.
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