Lake Catholic connected on enough shots from outside, and battled and scrapped enough on the inside to stave off two second-half runs by host North and prevail, 65-57, in a matchup of Lake County neighbors on Dec. 10. Both teams evened their records, as Lake Catholic improved to 1-1, and North fell to 2-2. Junior Brady Moran scored 28 points, including six 3-pointers, and added six rebounds and three assists to lead the Cougars, who only trailed once, at 3-1, in the opening minutes. PHOTOS: North vs. Lake Catholic boys basketball, Dec. 10, 2025 Brady, the son of Lake Catholic head coach Matt Moran, said that while it’s still early, the Cougars showed some marked improvement after a 72-57 season-opening loss to Mayfield. “A lot of new guys, and a lot of us have never played with each other,” Brady Moran said. “We shot a little better, and we were able to handle the pressure better.” North uses a 1-2-2 zone as its base defense, and Lake Catholic, when it wasn’t able to get into the fast break off of rebounds, moved the ball around in the half-court for open perimeter shots. The Cougars put up 30 shots from outside the arc, and connected on 10. Lake Catholic pulled down 29 rebounds, 14 of those on the offensive end. Senior Stanton Powaski grabbed nine boards to go with his 14 points, seven of those rebounds from his own misses, or those of teammates, and scored three times on putbacks. “Stanton is a great player, a team player, always making the right moves,” Brady Moran said. “He’s a great senior leader, awesome to play with.” @LC_Hoops junior Brady Moran, who scored a game-high 28 points, including six 3s, talks about Lake Catholic’s 65-57 win over North pic.twitter.com/idEd7oEKSW — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) December 11, 2025 Lake Catholic took a 17-9 lead after one quarter. A steal and layup by North senior Vinny Marsico pulled the Rangers within 26-21 in the second frame, but senior Brody Bohr sank two triples as part of a 10-4 Lake Catholic run, and his second one beat the halftime buzzer and gave the Cougars a 36-25 lead. North, which had won its previous two games, picked up its energy level out of the halftime break. The Rangers battled more fiercely for rebounds and 50-50 balls than they had in the first half, and managed to cut their deficit to 39-37 after a 12-3 run. Brady Moran split a pair of free throws, and a Powaski putback helped give the Cougars a little bit of breathing room in response to North’s spurt. Three more treys by Brady Moran and a pair of offensive rebounds and assists by Powaski highlighted Lake Catholic’s effort in the fourth quarter. North pulled within 52-48 when senior Brand Bambrick scored off of a feed from senior Mike Lowrie, but back-to-back triples by Brady Moran gave the Cougars a 10-point lead. Freshman Colin Kleppel scored 11 points and Bohr finished with 10 to give Lake Catholic four double-digit scorers. The Cougars shot 43% from the field (26 of 61), and held a 29-27 edge in rebounds. “It was kind of how we thought it would be,” said Matt Moran, in his second stint as Lake Catholic’s coach. “Eastlake North, (Coach Nick Mayer) does a great job. They’re gritty, and they’re passionate about their zone. “We had opportunities where we thought we could pull away and get them out of their zone, but they stuck with it, and kept clawing back. I was happy that we were able to (withstand) some of their runs, and value the basketball better and pull away when we needed to.” @LC_Hoops Coach Matt Moran breaks down Lake Catholic’s 65-57 win over North pic.twitter.com/nJ82Q5B6UA — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) December 11, 2025 Senior Braylon Rolf scored 17 points to lead North, which included 9 of 12 shooting from the foul line. Senior Nathan Sagendorph scored 11 points, and Bambrick added nine. North shot at a 47% clip, but struggled from outside, connecting on just 2 of 14 three-point attempts. Mayer said his team has developed a bad habit of getting off to slow starts. The Rangers were able to overcome it in wins over Madison and Lakeside. “We responded at halftime,” Mayer said. “They did what we asked, they got after it. We’ve had this issue that last few games where we’ve needed to come out with more energy in the first two quarters, and in the second half we’ve had to claw back. “It’s up to me to figure it out, I have to get these guys ready for the first quarter and second quarter, so we’re bringing that same energy for all four quarters.” @northrangers Coach Nick Mayer discusses North’s 65-57 loss to Lake Catholic’s, and its propensity to get off to slow starts pic.twitter.com/tNYWwnn9IM — Jay Kron (@TownCenter2) December 11, 2025 Lake Catholic will travel to play North Central Conference foe CVCA on Dec. 12. North is off until December 16, when it will host Valley Forge. The score Lake Catholic 65, North 57 ...read more read less