LF_011217

LakeForestLeader.com sports
the lake forest leader | January 12, 2017 | 29
Boys Basketball
Caxys defeat Giants in home opener
Todd Marver
Freelance Reporter
The Caxys were road
warriors, opening the season
winning 10 of their
first 13 games, all away
from home.
Lake Forest Academy
(11-3) finally played its
first home game of the
2016-2017 season on
Saturday, Jan. 7, against
Highland Park (6-8) and
came away with a 55-37
victory.
“The road toughens
you up,” LFA coach Matt
Vaughn said. “We had
some success on the road.
We played with good
emotion and guys were
fired up and that helped
us. And we’re always focused
when we play Highland
Park. It’s always been
a good game for us being
so close and we’ve played
them really tight through
the years. We were ready
to play.”
After holding a 9-7 first
quarter lead, the Caxys
went on a 12-0 run to
grab a 21-7 advantage
with 6:11 remaining in the
second quarter. The Giants
responded with a 6-0
run to close their deficit
to 21-13, but the Caxys
countered with a 9-2 run
to grab their largest advantage
of the first half at
30-15.
“I think we were driving
well,” LFA senior
guard Chris Harris said.
“We got open shots off the
drive, so that was good.
My teammates picked
me up a lot. We were just
getting shots and we just
got open and we got into
a groove. We knew we
needed to come out strong
because our last couple of
games we didn’t come out
too strong.”
Daniel Michelon (3) shoots a fadeaway jumper for
Highland Park in the contest.
Highland Park ended
the first half on an 8-0
run to go into the halftime
break trailing 30-23.
“We felt pretty good
at halftime,” Paul Harris
said. “We finished
the second quarter well
and came into the locker
room and just said, ‘It’s
the first game after break
and maybe we’re trying to
do things a little too fast.’
So we really just tried to
be calm and talk to the
guys about slowing things
down. But that’s where
you give your opponent
credit because they just
made it really difficult for
us to do that.”
The Caxys outscored
the Giants 8-5 in the third
quarter to extend their
lead to 38-28. The Caxys
opened the fourth quarter
on a 7-0 run to extend
their lead to 45-28 and led
by as much as 20 points in
the final period en route to
the 18-point victory.
“It’s one thing we’ve
been talking a lot about is
how to stop a team when
they’re making a run,”
Paul Harris said. “We
can’t always call timeout,
so we have to do a better
job on the floor of kind
of digging in and getting
stops and having good
possessions on the offensive
end.”
Vaughn felt Highland
Park experienced fatigue
in the fourth quarter.
“I think we got into a
full court game and I think
those guys actually got a
little tired,” Vaughn said.
“I think we tired them out
a little bit and I think we
kind of wore them down
a little bit. Our defense
really picked it up. Our
offense was still a little
all over the place in the
fourth quarter but defensively
I think we did a
nice job.”
Chris Harris finished
with a game-high 16
points for the Caxys and
Highland Park junior
Lake Forest Academy’s Chris Harris (23) gets to the basket for a layup during the
Caxys’ 55-37 win over Highland Park on Saturday, Jan. 7, in Lake Forest. Miroslaw
Pomian/22nd Century Media
Highland Park’s Ziv Tal (40) drives toward the basket.
guard Daniel Michelon
recorded a team-high 13
points for the Giants.
“(Chris Harris) is pretty
athletic,” Paul Harris
said. “I would say if
I’m a college coach, I’m
paying attention to him.
I don’t think he’s getting
a tremendous amount of
attention, but I think he
should be. He can shoot,
he makes his teammates
better and he can jump
out of the gym. We saw
some examples of that.
A few of those lobs I
thought we defended
pretty well, but if they
throw it high enough
he’s going to get it.”
The Giants will be back
in play on Friday night
when they travel to Maine
East for a 7 p.m. start,
while the Caxys will take
on Willowbrook in a MLK
Tournament from Sterling
High School at 1 p.m. on
Saturday.