Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes warned his players that Sandburg could shoot.
“I showed them a bunch of clips but I guess sometimes you have to see it yourself to believe it,” Rhodes said.
David Vargas is a well-known three-point threat in the area. And he had some major help on Tuesday in Oak Lawn. Vargas made six threes and scored 33 points and junior Ryan Tomczak drained seven three-pointers to finish with 30 points as the visiting Eagles knocked off Oak Lawn 92-82.
“It was awesome,” Tomczak said. “That was the best game of my life. [Sandburg coach John Daniels] said he doesn’t think two Sandburg players have ever scored 30 in a game.”
Tomczak was 7-for-10 from three and Vargas was 6 of 12. Sandburg was 14-for-29 overall from three-point range.
“Shooters shoot,” Daniels said. “In our league this is the only way we can compete. Firing. We are fun to watch. Some games we will miss a bunch too. We rely on the three.”
The Spartans (9-2) managed to keep pace with red-hot Sandburg (6-5) thanks to junior Donte Montgomery, who finished with 38 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Montgomery scored in a variety of ways: takes to the basket, three-pointers and in transition.
“He’s come a long way in a short time and has a really high ceiling,” Rhodes said.
Montgomery’s steal and layup with 1:16 to play cut Sandburg’s lead to 86-80.
“That’s the problem,” Daniels said. “I was waiting for my guys to miss. In that fourth quarter they made a run and cut it to six. Do you keep shooting? Do you pull it out? I went one more time to the well and we hit the three.”
Paulius Mizeras is the secret key to all of Sandburg’s open looks from three-point range. The 6-6 senior is the Eagles’ leading rebounder and point guard.
“[Daniels] moved me to point guard sophomore year and has been developing me,” Mizeras said. “Last year I was getting used to it and this year I’m starting to break out.”
Oak Lawn’s Donte Montgomery (5) takes the ball to the basket and scores against Sandburg.
Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times
Mizeras grabbed 12 rebounds and after each was able to push the ball quickly in transition by himself.
“[Vargas and Tomczak] were on fire,” Mizeras said. “I’m kicking the ball out to them and it was going in almost every time. There was a lot of yelling and celebrating.”
Henry Martinez, a 6-5 senior, had 12 points and eight rebounds for Oak Lawn and sophomore Jack Dempsey scored 14 points and had five rebounds.
“We have to be more disruptive defensively,” Rhodes said. “I don’t know the last time somebody put 92 on us in this gym. It’s been a while. We’ve hung our hats on defense. We probably made adjustments a little too late.”