When its best player left for a prep school in September, Lake Zurich had to adjust on the fly.
Multisport standout Connor Strauss was ready to pick up the slack after 6-8 Dartmouth recruit Anton Strelnikov transferred to La Lumiere in Indiana.
"For sure, once he left, everybody knew they had to step up," Strauss said after the Bears held off Lyons 47-42 Friday in the second round of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York. "And one of my ways to step up — I knew I was going to be effective on the defensive end. That was one of my roles last year.
"But I knew I had to hunt for my shot more and look for offensive opportunities more than I had to last year."
The 6-4 senior did that against Lyons, finishing with 14 points and three assists to go along with 11 rebounds. Adrian Riep scored a game-high 15 for the Bears (5-5), while Kain Kretschmar added nine points and nine rebounds.
Lake Zurich plays St. Ignatius, a 67-55 winner over Minooka, in Saturday's quarterfinals.
Bears coach Terry Coughlin said Strauss does a little bit of everything.
"He's an animal," Coughlin said. "He's just everything you want. He's a unanimous captain selection. ... He was not expecting to be this big of a focal point offensively. ... He's an unbelievable defender, has been our best defender for a couple years. But his ability and stamina to be able to do both — be a scorer for us, to rebound ... he's in the high post making plays."
Strauss also is a jumper and 400-meter runner in track, qualifying for state last spring in the triple jump. He's still open to doing either basketball or track in college.
In the meantime, he's working to help the Bears gain traction in one of the area's deepest conferences, the North Suburban. Teams like Warren and Waukegan have made most of the headlines early, but Lake Zurich has quality wins over New Trier and Lemont, among others.
The Bears also lost five in a row earlier this month, but Strauss believes they've turned the corner.
"I think our toughness has picked it up a lot," he said. "And we started to make shots too, which obviously helps. But overall, it's our toughness on the defensive end that has gotten us an opportunity to win a lot of games. And we're gritty enough to get all these close ones."
Lake Zurich never trailed against Lyons (5-6), leading by as many as 12 in the first half after the Lions missed their first 11 shots. The Bears were up by as many as 10 midway through the third quarter. But the Lions tied it at 40 when Josh Gutierrez made one of two free throws with 2:46 left in the game. Kretschmar hit two free throws with 2:24 left to put Lake Zurich up to stay.
Gutierrez, one of the smallest players on the floor at 5-10, had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds off the bench to lead Lyons. Ian Polonowski added 10 points and five rebounds.
Like Lake Zurich, Lyons has some good wins on its resume (Glenbard West. St. Laurence). But the Lions are still getting used to their roles.
"We have one player with any legit experience from last year: Ian Polonowski," Lions coach Tom Sloan said. "So it's been learning on the fly for 10 or 11 games now. There's no experience like actual varsity game experience. The kids, now they understand what it takes to compete and win."
One thing the Lions do have is size, with four starters 6-4 or taller: 6-4 Timmy Sloan, 6-5 Gavin Carolan, 6-6 Bobby Vespa and 6-7 Polonowski.
They also have a gritty playmaker in Gutierrez, a defensive back on the football team that went 11-1.
"Josh is a super tough kid and he got it going really well today," Tom Sloan said. "The defense that Lake Zurich was playing, heavy pressure — he was able to get by his guy and get in the lane and either get something for himself or somebody else. He did a really nice job of handling the ball and making good decisions."
