Naperville North sophomore Mitch Lewis had a monstrous fourth quarter to lift the Huskies to a 53-49 upset over Lake Park.
There are only a few players in the Naperville area that have single-handedly taken over a basketball game this season.
Only one is a sophomore.
Naperville North sophomore Mitch Lewis had a monstrous fourth quarter to lift the Huskies to a 53-49 upset over Lake Park in Friday’s DuPage Valley Conference game in Naperville.
Lewis scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth as the Huskies rallied to victory.
“He’s going to be a very special player,” Huskies coach Jeff Powers said. “He is going to go through some sophomore ups and downs, but the thing was he kept competing on the defensive end even when he made a mistake, and a lot of times he puts his head down and starts sulking. (On Friday), he didn’t.”
Lake Park (18-4, 5-1) led 32-29 after three quarters, but Lewis gave the Huskies (11-8, 5-2) the lead for good after his three-point play made it 42-40 with 4:50 remaining.
“I just looked at the clock and knew it was getting late so I had to take action,” Lewis said. “I knew if we lost we wouldn’t have a chance of winning the DVC, so I put that in my mind and put my heart on the line to do whatever it took to help my team out.”
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Powers wasn’t surprised.
“We knew that they trapped everything in the corners and the wings,” he said. “So we stopped throwing it there and it was best to just let Mitch take it.”
The Lancers had a couple chances to tie or take the lead in the final minute but they turned the ball over on one possession and then lost their ensuing one because Zach Tuxhorn took a charge with 15 seconds left.
The Huskies then sealed the game as 6-foot-5 senior Tyler Bushman lumbered down court to break Lake Park’s press, which resulted in an easy basket for Baylor Griffin.
“Coach had a poll to see who the team wanted to shoot free throws at the end of the game and they picked me,” Bushman said. “They wanted the ball in my hands so I just dribbled and did what I could with it.”
Deon Merrill got the Huskies off to a quick start with six points in the first quarter as they jumped to a 15-5 lead.
“I was just feeling it in warmups,” he said. “Sometimes you’ve got to make big shots especially with a big crowd, and our crowd was unbelievable. They believe in all of us and think that we’re great.”
They also got to see the Huskies play great defense.
“Mitch and Cam (Hardy) are extremely good defensively players and they don’t have any fear which is a beautiful thing,” Powers said. “But, that’s a great team with a great heart and it’s hard to beat a great team.”
Merrill finished with 10 points and Bushman added eight points for the Huskies.
Marcus McDaniel led the Lancers with 18 points.