Lions look sharp at their own tournament

Lisle's biggest challenge relating to its Playing for Pride Shootout game against Hartsburg-Emden was picking out negatives from the contest.

The Lions (3-5) routed the visitors 71-42 Dec. 13 in Lisle. The Shootout hosts scored, passed, rebounded and utilized every freebie opportunity they could get.

Lisle recorded a season-high 17 assists on 24 baskets. Several players -- including Ryan Liss off the bench -- handed out three or more assists. Point guard Jay Osika had four.

"That was the best we've executed our offense so far all year," Lisle coach Mark LaScala said.

"Everyone played unselfishly, making the extra pass, and that helped us get some nice looks. We were also hitting our shots. Earlier in the year, we made passes where we should have had assists but we didn't make shots," he said.

The team shot over 50 percent from the floor in the nonconference win. Lisle got 18 points from guard Marcus Wilson, a season-high 15 from Chris Wray and Tyler Triplett chipped in with eight points and 10 rebounds.

"Tyler did a nice job cleaning the glass," LaScala said. "He had one of his better performances of the year. You don't typically think of rebounding as defense, but in a way, getting rebounds is because it allows us to get in transition and prevents the other team from scoring."

The Lions spurted out to a 20-2 lead to begin the game and led 34-16 at halftime.

"That's the first time we got out to a really fast start," LaScala said. "At times we've fallen behind early and we'd start getting tight on our shots when they didn't go down early."

LaScala pointed out another area the Lions hope to continue their upward momentum. Lisle at least temporarily fixed a team-wide glitch.

"We did a great job getting to the free-throw line," he said. "And we made them, which was the key. That's been something we've struggled with."

The Lions finished 17-of-22 for 77 percent.

Hartsburg-Emden fell to 2-5 with the loss.

"They came a pretty long way to play us and didn't really have a chance to scout us," LaScala said. "I think that helped us get off to a fast start."

Twenty teams took part in the seventh Playing for Pride Shootout. Games started at noon and ended with Lisle's 8 p.m. contest. Driscoll and Wheaton Academy were among the other competitors. Each team played one game.

Lisle would have like to have carried that momentum from Saturday into its Dec. 16 home game against Aurora Christian. That game was postponed due to the snow storm that hit that day.

The matchup has been rescheduled for Dec. 22.

After that game, Lisle plays in the Lemont Christmas Tournament, Dec. 26 to 30.

The Lions go a long stretch without conference games. After their Dec. 19 date at Wilmington, they don't play another Interstate Eight game until Jan. 9 at Sandwich.