Niles West head coach Bob Williams is trying to build a solid basketball program at the school.

While the Wolves dropped a 52-50 decision to Lake Park in the Addison Trail Regional semifinals Wednesday, March 3, the program continues to take steps forward.

“I always believe that things happen for a reason,” Williams said. “I have no idea what the reason for the loss is because our kids did everything they needed to. When you do the right things, good things will happen in the long run. Coaching wise I’m very much about learning life skills and things that will help you throughout life.”

Niles West had a chance to sneak out a win against the Lancers. Trailing 51-48 with 12 seconds left, Boris Cayemitte heaved a three-quarters court pass to a streaking Lauris Herth who laid it in to cut the lead to one.

The Wolves immediately fouled Lake Park and the Lancers hit the first and missed the second, giving Niles West a chance to tie or win it with eight seconds left.

Lorenzo Fiol tried to work his way into a position for an open three-pointer, but he didn’t get a good look and the shot was off the mark.

“It was a great high school game and both teams really competed throughout the entire game,” Williams said. “There was a lot of tears and they were upset. We believed that we could win the game.”

Finishing with a record of 12-14, the Wolves didn’t find themselves in a position to win many games on their last possession and that’s something that definitely hurt their chances to eek out a win against Lake Park.

“It was not a good look and (Fiol) was guarded,” Williams said. “We just haven’t been in enough of those situations. The thing is that when you’re not used to it, it’s hard to believe you’re going to do it. But the effort was tremendous.”

Tony Pierce had a fantastic second half for Niles West scoring 19 of his 21 points after halftime.

“Tony Pierce stepped up and had good shooting night,” Williams said. “He did the things he was supposed to. He did a great job all year and really stepped up as a junior.”

Other contributors for Niles West were Rodney Metellus (8 points), Herth (7 points), Ramsan Younatham (6 points) and Chris McNichols.

The Wolves will bid farewell to five seniors now and they will certainly be missed. Playing their last game for Niles West were Fiol, Cayemitte, Metellus, McNichols and Marlowe Soriano.

“Fiol had a broken bone in his hand and played most of the season one-handed and had a great year,” Williams said. “Metellus had knee problems but he kept saying he wanted to play.

“Boris was just a tremendous kid and was one of our two captains with Lorenzo. Chris has been a leader from the beginning to the end and Marlowe Soriano didn’t play a whole lot but he was always firing people up and very inspirational.”

Those five seniors also did something very important for this growing Niles West program.

“We approached this season in a very different way than they were used to and I give them credit because they were with us 100 percent,” Williams added. “Their effort and the way they did things will set the tone for years and they’ll be remembered for that.”

In the offseason, the returning players will need to focus on three very important things: hitting the weight room, playing competitive ball with AAU teams and focusing on fundamentals.

“There’s three different areas and you need to do all three,” Williams said. “They’re all excited about doing those things. We put ourselves in the position to win a lot of games but we need to get over the hump to be more successful next year.”