Last week the boys basketball team kicked their season off with the annual Thanksgiving basketball tournament. With a new Head Coach and young roster, the Scouts were bound to have a challenging start to the season. For the first two games they had to play two of the top teams in Illinois, Loyola and New Trier. New Trier was ranked 10th in the state at the time the Scouts played them. Loyola then beat New Trier and eventually became ranked 10th in the state.
These two teams were tough matchups, but the Scouts kept it close. They only lost by 8 to Loyola and were winning at halftime against New Trier before ultimately losing by 15. Although the Scouts lost, some of the younger players were able to get their first varsity minutes. With four sophomores and five juniors who were yet to play at the varsity level, the experience they gained ultimately helped them in the next two games with a 58-23 win over Bulls College Prep and a 51-43 win over Niles West.
The Scouts then traveled to rival Libertyville for their first conference showdown. Fans from both sides packed the arena for the highly anticipated game. The game had high energy with both teams going back and forth at each other. Senior Dominic Mordini led the team with 30 points followed by Senior John White with 15 points. Ultimately, the Scouts lost 64-59 but showed a lot of promising moments.
Mordini has been a key player on the varsity basketball team since his sophomore year. With his scoring ability and playmaking skills, he has helped the Scouts be a successful team in the past. Dominic hopes to continue this success by passing down some of his knowledge to some of the younger players.
“Being one of the few varsity players with experience from last year’s team, I felt that the biggest attribute I can hold to a more inexperienced team is leadership. I have felt this younger team has been eager to learn and be willing to trust the process to have a successful season down the road,” Mordini said.
Dominic currently leads the team in points. With his incredible start to the season Mordini and the team set one goal for the season, a sectional championship.
“Our team is hunting a sectional. We understand that it’s not going to be easy but it would be something special to be the first team in Lake Forest history to win it,” Mordini said.
With new Head Coach Joe Pettinger the style of play for the Scouts has been a huge game changer.
“His new coaching style is a lot more fast paced, getting us up and down the floor a lot during practice has really translated to our games. We can get a lot more transition buckets and can score at any time,” said senior John White.
“Coach Lascala laid a good foundation for commitment to the program and being selfless and Coach Pettinger has really built on that, adding in some of that young energy that the program needed,” White said.
The Scouts tough schedule doesn’t end here. The Scouts will try to bounce back against Neuqua Valley on Saturday December 6th. Neuqua Valley has a four-star recruit Cole Kelly who will be a tough matchup. The next week they will go against the 4th ranked team in the state Warren with another four-star recruit Jaxson Davis.
