Lyons Basketball Cruises In Playoff Opener

The girls basketball team faced extreme difficulty when it met DuSable in the opening round of the 2010-11 IHSA postseason, falling 56-48 to conclude its mainly inconsistent year.

Lyons’ boys team experienced no such difficulty Wednesday night.

The Lions (24-2) handily dispatched DuSable, 72-45, in its opening playoff game, held at Brother Rice High School, to advance to the regional final Friday evening at 6 p.m. against the regional hosts.

“It’s important to start out [in the playoffs] well,” Lyons big man Nick Burt said. “We want to keep good habits so that we can improve each game.”

Burt, along with the eight other senior Lions, recognizes that at this stage, the squad could be taking the court for the final time.

“There are seniors on every team who are going to do everything in their power to make sure it’s not their last game,” Burt said. “We know that any team is capable of losing any night.”

Though the game was hotly contested early on, Lyons took a 24-8 lead into the second quarter and a 39-22 advantage into halftime.

“We really wanted to start off strong and get some momentum,” senior guard Eric Powers—who scored 13 points for the Lions—said. “We’re still taking it one game at a time like we have been all season.”

The momentum carried over into the third period as Lyons jumped out to a 15-4 run, extending their lead further and reinforcing their dominance on the game.

Lyons forced over 15 turnovers over the course of the evening, with its pressure defense and fast break prowess proving DuSable a mere formality; every Lion player saw at least one minute of floor time.

Senior guard Nick Zeisloft led the Lyons with 18 points, while Powers and Burt’s combined 25 points aided the streaking La Grange side.

Lyons must overcome host school Brother Rice Friday evening in order to book its place in the IHSA sectional proceedings. Notorious for housing a basketball-loving student body, Brother Rice will surely provide a more hostile environment for the West Suburban Silver Conference champs.

“I expect the atmosphere to be unreal,” senior forward Henry Wilson, who added five points and five rebounds in the DuSable win, said. “We beat them in the [Jack Tosh Tournament] and I’m sure they really want a second chance.”

However, Powers is confident in the team’s resolve when the chips are down.

“The atmosphere should be crazy,” Powers said. “But I think we’ve responded well to the pressure [this season] and play well in front of big crowds.”