It took a lot longer than expected, but Lyons Township has finally landed where it was projected all along: atop the West Suburban Silver Conference standings.
The Lions, who opened the season surprisingly slowly, completed their turnabout Saturday night after they easily handled Hinsdale Central 53-35 in LaGrange.
Behind the steady all-around play of seniors Jim Maley and Cortez Forte, Lyons (14-8, 8-3) ran its win streak to 10 games and forged a first-place tie with Hinsdale Central (16-8, 8-3) with one game remaining against Downers Grove North next week. The Lions, who started the season 4-8 and 1-3 in conference, haven’t won a conference championship since 1994.
Playing a different brand of basketball than earlier in the season when it lost to Hinsdale Central 40-29, Lyons built a 33-22 lead by halftime after shooting 8-of-12 from the field in the second quarter. The Lions, who never trailed and were never seriously threatened, held Hinsdale Central to 13 points in the second half.
Maley paced Lyons with 16 points and four assists, while Forte scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half to go along with nine rebounds, three steals and four assists.
Hinsdale Central, seeking its second West Suburban Silver crown in three years, was paced by Pat Cuttica’s 14 points and Steve Schweer’s 12 points and five rebounds.
Sean Duncan.
West Aurora 66, Glenbard North 43: Dameon Mason’s 16 points and Shaun Pruitt’s 14 points off the bench helped the No. 2 Blackhawks (22-2, 12-1) clinch the DuPage Valley title.
New Trier 50, Warren 44: The No. 7 Trevians (19-5) held on for the win behind Nick Nikitas’ 14 points. Quentin Herring led Warren (14-10) with 10 points.
Waubonsie Valley 68, St. Charles East 58: Jeff Sassano had 19 points and Sean Blalock added 11 points off the bench for the No. 20 Warriors (23-1, 11-1) in the Upstate Eight win. St. Charles East led 31-24 at halftime and was up three late in the third when the Warriors went on a 17-4 run to take a 10-point lead. Chris Jones scored 20 points to lead the Saints (12-11, 6-6).
Bartlett 67, East Aurora 49: Pat Tuggle and Anthony Maestranzi put in 20 points apiece to lead the Hawks (19-6, 9-3) in the Upstate Eight.
Maestranzi, whose last basket of the game gave him 1,000 career points, hit two three-pointers in the final minute of the third to extend Bartlett’s eight-point halftime lead to 47-31. Darice Venson’s 12 points led East Aurora (12-11, 6-6).
De La Salle 73, St. Joseph 60 (OT): Marc Harvey and Aaron Wellington scored 24 and 18 points, respectively, and combined for eight points in the extra session to lead the Meteors (11-13). Wellington forced overtime with a jumper in the final second to tie the game 60-60. Chris Hart had 20 points for St. Joseph (14-8).
Gordon Tech 78, Nazareth 73: Michael Lang’s 20 points and Dillion Sneed’s 12 paced the Rams (21-3) to the non-conference win. Jonathan Kwak and Matt Wilkinson scored 23 and 20 points, respectively, for Nazareth (5-20) which pulled within 74-72 with 1 minute left after trailing by 11 entering the fourth quarter. Titus Redmond, who finished with 11 points, then went 4-of-4 from the line to seal the win.
Montini 59, St. Benedict 58: Joe Gay scored 21 points, including the game-winning layup with 40 seconds left, for Montini (17-8).
Naperville Central 61, Naperville North 56 (OT): Ryan Paradise finished with 19 points, including a three-pointer with 29 seconds left to force overtime for Central (15-10, 10-3). Mike Benning scored 27 points for North (9-15, 4-9).
St. Patrick 65, Loyola 58: Michael Sakosky scored a career-high 20 points on six three-pointers to lift the Shamrocks (16-8). Colin Falls scored 24 points for Loyola (16-8).
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Stevenson 72, Waukegan 69 (OT): Rueben Trotter scored 24 points for the Patriots (18-7).
Wheaton North 73, Wheaton Warrenville South 53: Dan Walser and Dareon Spencer scored 15 points apiece as the Falcons (19-5, 9-4) rolled in the DuPage Valley. Ben Williams led Wheaton Warrenville South (12-12, 6-7) with 19 points.