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It was a battle of the bigs Friday in Skokie, with Lake Forest’s 6-9 Sam Downey matching up against Glenbrook North’s 6-8 Andrew McAuliffe.

Downey had a lot more help than McAuliffe did, and that tipped the scales in the Scouts’ 57-52 win at the Niles West Thanksgiving Tournament.

“Evan [Boudreaux] did a great job on McAuliffe,” Downey said. “He’s the best post defender on our team.”

Boudreaux, a highly-regarded 6-7 sophomore, has plenty of practice—in practice, where he guards Downey on a daily basis.

“We go at it every day, so he’s pretty used to dealing with size,” Downey said.

Downey, a Yale recruit, scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He’s light on his feet with a nose for the ball.

“I try to be a finesse player since I’m not the strongest guy,” Downey said.

Boudreaux added 14 points and nine rebounds. The Scouts frontline did a solid job keeping McAuliffe off the boards, limiting him to just four rebounds. Lake Forest outrebounded Glenbrook North 33-20.

“Evan did a great job on McAuliffe,” Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala said. “And Sam has worked really hard the past few years, he’s a hell of a player.”

The Scouts led throughout the game, but every time it seemed they were about to grab a sizeable lead, Glenbrook North senior Kurt Karis drained a three. He finished with a game-high 24 points, shooting 6 for 9 from three-point range.

Lake Forest kept McAuliffe off the boards, but the Davidson recruit is virtually unstoppable in the post. He used an impressive array of polished moves to score 17 points, shooting 7 for 15.

Lake Forest guard Carter Bass gave the Spartans’ backcourt fits on defense and added 15 points.

Neither team shot a free throw until midway through the fourth quarter.

“Yeah, it was kind of a crazy game with that,” LaScala said.

Glenbrook North, ranked No. 17 in the preseason Super 25, falls to 2-2. The Spartans lost to Niles West earlier in the week. Lake Forest improves to 4-0.

“Getting off to a good start is important for us,” Downey said. “Last year we didn’t and I think it kind of effected our whole season.”