Lake Forest’s Hudson Scroggins is an old-fashioned back-to-the-basket post man.
The 6-foot-7 junior’s presence down low is a perfect balance to the Scouts’ strong perimeter game and creates plenty of opportunities for Scroggins to make a sizable impact.
“I’ve always loved rebounding, ever since I was a kid, especially offensive rebounding,” he said. “I love boxing people out and getting physical down in the paint.”
Those traits came in handy time and time again as the Scouts earned a share of the North Suburban Conference title this season, and that has continued in the postseason.
Scroggins contributed a game-high 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks in second-seeded Lake Forest’s 59-32 win against 12th-seeded Ridgewood in the Class 3A St. Viator Sectional semifinals in Arlington Heights on Tuesday.
The Scouts (25-7), who will play top-seeded DePaul Prep (31-2) in the sectional championship game at 7 p.m. Friday, led wire to wire against Ridgewood (16-13). A 25-0 run spanning more than nine minutes in the second and third quarters blew things open, and Scroggins’ point total was more than the Rebels had until midway through the fourth.
“We did a great job of getting the ball inside to him, getting some touches early,” Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala said. “He did a great job using his shot fakes and getting their big guy in foul trouble early.”
Scroggins scored the game’s first five points with a short jumper in the lane, a putback off an offensive rebound and a free throw after his second straight trip to the line. The first came after an aggressive drive through multiple defenders that left Scroggins sprawled out on the floor outside the baseline.
“I always like to get out early in a game, get a few shots up, get a few punch steps, just to get in a groove,” he said. “That tells the other team that they have to guard me all the way until the end, no matter how big their tallest guy is.”
That kind of bravado creates problems for Lake Forest’s opponents. But Scroggins didn’t have so much confidence last season, when he got varsity minutes as a sophomore.
“He’s a completely different player,” LaScala said. “We saw the transformation this summer. All of a sudden, he was taking it to the hoop, and it didn’t matter who was guarding him. He feels like a huge part of this, and he is.”
That reality has ratcheted up expectations for Scroggins, who entered Tuesday averaging 13.5 points and 6.2 rebounds.
“There’s definitely some pressure, but I like to have the team count on me to score and rebound and box out,” he said. “Last year, there weren’t as many post-ups. There was a lot of backdoor cutting, offensive rebounding. I wasn’t as aggressive on offense and wasn’t as developed. I’m more confident now, for sure, and that’s a big factor.”
Star senior guard Tommie Aberle, who broke into Lake Forest’s rotation as a freshman, knows it can take time to get adjusted to the varsity level. He also appreciates that Scroggins’ development has made things easier for the guards.
“I think getting pulled up to varsity can be very eye-opening for any young guy,” Aberle said. “You kind of get nervous and play sort of scared your first few games. At the end of last year, he started settling in, and he’s made so many strides. He’s awesome.”
But Scroggins isn’t satisfied. At the top of his wish list, he wants to improve his midrange shooting during the offseason.
Scroggins, who remembers Lake Forest’s loss to Grayslake Central in a sectional final last season, also isn’t shying away from the matchup against defending Class 2A state champion DePaul.
“Last year, we got this far and thought we were going to keep going,” he said. “Now we’re going to try to keep going also against a really good DePaul Prep team. But that’s OK because I really like playing good teams.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.