The Lake Forest boys basketball team’s prospects looked hopeless.
With 5:10 left in their 57-49 loss to Stevenson in the Class 4A Waukegan Sectional championship Friday night, the No. 2-seeded Scouts trailed the No. 1 Patriots by 14 points. But this is a Lake Forest team that is not short on backbone. It counterpunched, slicing the deficit to as little as three points at 52-49 in the final minute.
The Scouts could not climb all the way back, however, losing a championship game worthy of the engrossed capacity crowd that crammed into Waukegan’s gym.
“There was no one who thought we weren’t going to win this game,” Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala said.
After Stevenson senior guard Matt Johnson knocked down a three-point shot to extend the Stevenson lead to 45-31, Lake Forest (28-3) went to work. In the span of 2:23, senior forward Evan Boudreaux (30 points, 19 rebounds) sank three three-point shots, his final one with 1:40 remaining made the score 50-45.
“[Boudreaux] just showed what he can do,” said senior Steve Vogrich, who guarded Patriots star guard Jalen Brunson for much of the night. “I’m proud of how we finished.”
LaScala added: “He [Boudreaux] does things other guys can’t do.”
Boudreaux politely declined to speak to the media Friday night.
At that point in the game, Stevenson was in the double bonus. Any Lake Forest foul would result in two free throws. The Scouts did not want to send Brunson, an 82-percent free throw shooter this season, to the line. So when Brunson passed, Lake Forest sent two defenders to double the elusive guard and prevent the ball being passed back to him.
The strategy worked. In the final 35.7 seconds, Stevenson missed five of six free throws, all shot by someone other than Brunson. That gave extra possessions to the Scouts. Trailing 53-49 with 30 seconds left, Lake Forest had the ball. But a Connor Cashaw steal led to a Stevenson free throw. On the ensuing possession, the Scouts turned the ball over. Brunson finally got to the line, converting two foul shots with 17 seconds remaining to bump the lead to 55-49.
The Scouts were unable to score the rest of the game.
“That was a tough locker room [after the game],” LaScala said. “This is the best senior class in school history.”
Junior forward Lorenzo Edwards added 14 points and three blocked shots for the Scouts.
Jon Kerr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @prepspioneer