Chicago-Area High School Football News and Scores | Season Pass

Friday night’s North Suburban Conference Lake Division matchup between Zion-Benton and Lake Zurich got out-of-hand rather quickly.

The end result was a dominant 68-41 win for the visiting Zee-Bees, who never trailed. It was also a stark contrast compared to the first time the two clubs played earlier in the season — a 10-point Zion-Benton win.

Zion-Benton led by six after one, 16 at halftime, 22 at the end of three, and by as many as 32 at one point midway through the fourth quarter.

Milik Yarbrough finished with a game-high 15 points for the Zee-Bees, who shot a red-hot 57 percent (24-for-42) from the field. But it was the play of 5-9 senior point guard Dorsey Cadette (13 points, six rebounds, six assists) that set the tone early for Zion-Benton (17-5 overall, 7-3 NSC Lake).

“I was real focused out there tonight,” Cadette said. “We knew we had to get the win.”

The Zee-Bees also kept pace with Stevenson, which entered play just a half-game ahead of Zion-Benton in the loss column in the race for the division title.

“This was a big win for us,” Zion-Benton coach Don Kloth said. “Our defense, our shooting and our rebounding were all really good tonight. Now we have to go take care of business against Warren (next) Friday night and Mundelein on Saturday hopefully.”

Just about everything that could go wrong for Lake Zurich did go wrong. The Bears (13-12, 3-6), which had won eight of their previous 12 games, shot a dismal 25 percent (14-for-56) from the field. They were even worse from three-point range, where they finished just 2-of-22 (nine percent).

Adding insult to injury, Zion-Benton was also dominant on the glass, outrebounding the Bears by a 33-22 margin. That included a 13-4 edge in the first half.

“The first two plays of the game where they scored a couple of quick, easy baskets against us kind of epitomized how the entire evening went for us,” Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher said. “We’ve played really well lately, which is why I kind of don’t get this. We had a good week of practice too, so it was surprising to me that we came out this flat.”

The Bears, who got a team-high eight points from junior guard Brad Kruse, don’t play again for another eight days.

“Hopefully, the time off gives us some time to reflect on what we can do better as a team,” Pitcher said. “Obviously, we aren’t going to shoot as poorly as we did tonight very often, either. I think we can learn and grow from this.”