Serbian center Vuk Lazarevic, at 7-foot-1, wasn’t playing the five for charity either, leading Wasatch to bottle up the Eagles 62-45 on Tuesday for a 15th consecutive series win since 2012.

Lazarevic, picking up 12 points for himself, and four other Tigers dipped into double-figure scoring in just LCA’s third regular-season loss. Junior County’s 15 team-high points led Wasatch (12-5), the No. 4 team in the state by MaxPreps, from the field and the free-throw line (4 of 4).

Forty-five points is 19.8 below LCA’s season average.

“This is our biggest game, basically of the season,” LCA senior Nikola Janicic, originally from North Macedonia, said. “I think, obviously, we were excited, but I think as the season goes we’re going to get better and better. … (Wasatch) is a very good team and we’ve got to give them credit.”

The Eagles (15-3), ranked No. 2 in the state by MaxPreps before Tuesday’s loss, struggled to thwart the bevy of names Wasatch can throw inside. Third-year LCA coach Casey Stanley built upon his senior forward’s view, and specifically pointed to how individualistic his defense appeared.

“They were paint-touching really well,” Stanley said. “I thought our guys, they were on their own island. They weren’t helping each other. They were kind of playing four or five one-on-one games (and) that hurts us. We’ve got to be a team defensive unit (and) we’ve got to be better if we want to compete at that level.”

Picking up three 3s in the first quarter, senior forward Nikola Janicic (13 points) looked to be in store for big things after leading the Eagles to an 18-15 lead; the 6-foot-4 wing then went silent through the end of the opening half.

Janicic and senior guard Gabriel Sularski (nine points, a four-star prospect and formerly the second-highest rated recruit out of Illinois, combined for 13 in the first quarter, but ran ashore over the next 8 minutes.  Two LCA bigs — senior Emilis Zibuda (eight total points) and Estonian junior Roman Avdejev (six points) — managed just six second-quarter points for LCA, and the Eagles trailed Wasatch 33-24 at the half.

County, unloading four free throws and five more points from the field in the third quarter, kept the pedal down on LCA in the third quarter. Zibuda would strike behind the arc for the first time, and the Eagles’ bench in chipped five points, but Wasatch held its lead to 11 by the final frame.

Janicic was critical of his team’s defensive effort on Tuesday, and specifically how often they left Wasatch clearly marked lanes to the basket.

“The back doors, everything we didn’t cover,” Janicic said. “Everyone was trying to show what we could do (and) we fell short, but I think the biggest part in that is the defense.”

Janicic’s fourth and final triple drew the Eagles within a single-digit deficit one last time early into the fourth quarter, but Lazarevic broke into double figures with two Wasatch baskets, Chidi Nwigwe added two more and Strahinja Zelic added a bench two to stamp out the season’s 12th win.

Matija Moravecevic added four points for LCA. Joost Dalgaard chipped in three and Osaigbovo Aguebor’s 1-of-4 free-throw shooting grabbed one.

LCA falls to 2-2 in January. The Eagle will get another look at Wasatch to end the regular season on Feb. 25 in Mt. Pleasant. This final stretch of the season includes key home dates with local powers Timpview (Jan. 31) and Layton (Feb. 13).

With Tuesday’s loss, Stanley hopes his team can start treating these tests as just that: tests.

“I think what hurt us the most at times was their name,” Stanley said. “I think some of our guys were intimidated by the stage, and by the quality of their players. I don’t think we executed. I think we got, offensively, the looks that we wanted at times, but they weren’t falling and I think part of that comes with the mystique that is Wasatch.”

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.