Easy does it for Lake Forest

The Lake Forest Scouts had a "no-no" going through the first 11 minutes of Friday night's game against the visiting Palatine Pirates.

But although the shutout came to an end three minutes into the second quarter, the Scouts turned the 63-29 into a subs-delight kind of game against a team that looked like what it was -- a team that had won just one game all season.

The final minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter were played with substitutes by both teams.

"We were a lot more disciplined defensively tonight than we've been all season," said winning coach Phil LaScala, whose team is now 4-2 overall. "As soon as we weren't, there were a lot more penetrations and better looks for them."

The leading scorer in the game was Lake Forest star Matt Vogrich, who had 20 points. His six first-quarter points were the total output for both teams in the first frame.

Vogrich was backed by junior Mitch Hopfinger, who added 15 points.

Those two had every Lake Forest field goal until the three-minute mark of the third quarter.

" Jonathan Sibinsky (four points) would normally be our third guy (to score)," said LaScala. But, he's still got tired legs from football at this point."

Instead, an assortment of players stepped up, as Lake Forest's bench scored 17 points in the fourth quarter. Casey Hanrahan and Ryan Atherley led the second group in scoring with five points each.

The Scouts -- whose only two losses this year were in overtime to Glenbrook North and Warren -- will take on Mundelein on Tuesday night.

-- Dave Masterson

A poor start doomed Grayslake North in this non-conference contest, as host Crystal Lake South led 16-8 after one quarter and continued to to earn a 13-point win.

Grant Henricksen had 11 points and Mike Vewijst 10 for the Knights, who will take a 4-2 record into Monday night's home game against Dundee-Crown.

The red-hot Rams continue to look like the best Class 3A team in the area and the best team, period, in the Fox Valley Conference.

They stunned host Cary-Grove on Friday in a non-conference game to improve to 6-2 on the season for first-year coach Brian Moe.

Josh Rappaport led the winners in scoring with 17 points and Mike Brumm added 15. Alex Anderson had 10, Kevin O'Rourke nine and Cameron Nelson four straight fourth-quarter free throws.

Highland Park bounced back from Tuesday's disastrous loss to Maine East and routed intradistrict rival Deerfield at home in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd.

The Giants (1-1 in the league and 2-3 overall) got 13 points from Marin Kokoc, 11 from Eric Manpearl, 10 from Brad Schwartz and 9 from Jordan Reisner. The game was the first meeting between Highland Park coach Paul Harris, and his former assistant coach, Brett Just, who is in his first year at the wheel at Deerfield (2-3).

"We took a beating Tuesday night, but I told the kids they can't get discouraged. The did a great job of bouncing back tonight," said Harris. "This was a huge win for us.

"We did a great job of executing the offense tonight."

Max Burgess and Anthony Haack each had eight points for Deerfield (2-3 overall).

-- P.J. Bonato

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