Lake stays hot with a rout

Lake Catholic didn’t hit triple digits this time, but a smothering defensive effort in a 70-47 victory over visiting Ursuline on Dec. 19 ensured that wouldn’t be necessary. The Cougars forced 26 turnovers, built a lead of 15-5 after one quarter and led by double digits the rest of the way, their lead reaching as high as 26 in the third quarter. It was the fourth win by at least 22 points in four games for the Cougars, and those four wins have been by an average of 28.3 points.

“We didn’t shoot the ball really well, but the silver lining is we scored a lot of points off of our defense,” Lake Catholic coach Matt Moran said. “That was huge for us. We’ve been trying to preach to these guys to apply themselves on the defensive end, because they’re not always going to shoot well.”

Stalwart sophomores Luka Eller and Luke Frazier, who have emerged as leaders for the Cougars in the young season, once again led the way. Frazier finished with a game-high 26 points, 18 of which came in the second half. He had three dunks that fired up the crowd and his teammates and displayed his usual penchant for harassing opposing guards with another half-dozen steals.

Eller added 18 points to go with seven rebounds, six steals and three assists. His inside presence combined with his ability to find teammates downcourt in transition for easy scores made him tough for the Fighting Irish to handle.

“They’re actually very unselfish players,” Moran said of Eller and Frazier. “It might not look like that because they’re scoring all the points, but they get everyone involved, and they’re great teammates. It’s just a great, close-knit team. No one cares who’s scoring, or who’s doing what. They all just want to see this team succeed, and I think that’s what makes this a special team.”

Ursuline (0-4), with just two seniors on its roster, is a young team off to a rough start. Facing the pressure of a team like Lake Catholic on the road was a tall task for the Fighting Irish this early in the season.

“We’re young, and we’re growing, but the way they (Lake Catholic) play and the way they pressure you just makes it really, really tough,” Ursuline coach Keith Gunther said. “Especially if you don’t have experienced guards that know how to play against that. I think we got better tonight, but I think they’re just a level above us right now. I think they’re definitely a regional team, maybe a state team this year.”

Gunther would know, as his Irish have advanced to the regional level in the postseason on an annual basis in recent seasons. Devan Keeney (11 points) and Daysean Harris (10) paced Ursuline.

Lake Catholic opened up a 30-10 lead in the second quarter when Christian DeMitro hit a 3-pointer off a feed from Robert Morgan, and Frazier followed with his second dunk of the night. Eller scored the final two buckets of the second quarter as the Cougars took a 43-19 lead into halftime.

At the 5:58 mark of the third quarter and Lake Catholic up, 48-21, Ursuline was forced to turn the ball over when it couldn’t get it across midcourt in 10 seconds. The Irish rallied after that, outscoring the Cougars, 13-4, the rest of the stanza, but still found themselves down, 52-34.

Frazier scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Cougars pushed their lead, and final tally, both over 20 points for the fourth time in four games. Lake Catholic still has not given up 60 points in a game this season, and Moran cited the effort of some of his role players as a reason why.

“We’ve got guys coming off the bench, like Christian DeMitro, Ryan Boruszkowski and Robert Morgan, guards that are just our sparkplug,” Moran said. “They might not be the best shooters, but I’ll take those guys any day of the week to defend against another team’s best players. We don’t lose anything when we go to the bench.”