Freeport boys top Deer Lakes to earn key Section 1-4A win

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 | 1:13 PM

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Aiden Skradski was in the starting five for the Freeport boys basketball team Tuesday in its Section 1-4A clash with Deer Lakes.

It was the first varsity start for the 5-foot-11 sophomore guard who took the spot normally reserved for older brother Gavin.

Gavin Skradski suffered a thumb injury in practice Monday, and Aiden got the call from coach Mike Beale.

Skradski scored 16 points — all in the second half — to help fuel a Freeport comeback from a double-digit deficit. The Yellowjackets completed the rally 83-71.

“I was nervous and excited all at the same time,” said Skradski, who joined the other four Freeport starters in double figures.

“I was feeling so many emotions. I hadn't played that many minutes before, but my coaches and teammates were so supportive. They helped calm me down, and we got a great win.”

Freeport won for the fifth time in a row and improved to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in section play.

“Aiden is a basketball junkie who lives for this,” Beale said. “There's nobody who works harder. He deserved to be in there in that role, and he let his skills take over. He played the game the way he knows how.”

Deer Lakes fell to 6-6 and 2-2. The Lancers played their first game in section since Dec. 22.

Deer Lakes appeared to be in good position, ahead 52-41 with 3 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third quarter. Colin Kadlick and Jake Kelly had just put in back-to-back layups.

But then Freeport used a 13-5 run over the remainder of the quarter to pull to within 57-54.

The Yellowjackets forced five Deer Lakes turnovers and put together a 16-0 run over the first 4:39 of the final quarter to seize control.

“We were turning the ball over at half court, which led to some easy buckets,” Lancers coach Terence Parham said. “Freeport did a nice job of making plays, hitting tough shots and hitting their free throws. We just didn't handle the press as well as we would've liked, particularly in the second half.”

Deer Lakes turned the ball over 24 times, 15 in the second half.

“It's really hard to beat well-coached teams when you are turning the ball over that many times,” Parham said.

Jalen Brown scored 20 to lead the Yellowjackets, and Isiah Bauman had 19 and Ben Beale had 18. Damon Shiring converted a layup with 54 seconds left to give him 10 points.

“When you have balanced scoring like that, it's very hard to defend,” Mike Beale said. “I also thought our pressure wore them down in the second half. We cleaned some things up in the second half and switched up things pressure-wise to isolate some of their offensive players.”

Kelly had 16 points for Deer Lakes. Trevor Sutch came off the bench to score 14.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Freeport