St. Charles East gets stuffed
With all apologies to all of the physics professors out there, a stoppable force met an immovable object Wednesday afternoon in Elmhurst.
St. Charles East's boys basketball team certainly met its match in the form of St. Ignatius (8-2) and its 6-10 senior center, Nnanna Egwu.
The University of Illinois-bound recruit scored 24 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked 8 shots and generally made life miserable for the Saints (4-8) throughout the Wolfpack's 66-38 victory in the 37th annual Jack Tosh/York Holiday Classic Tournament.
“He took over the game,” Saints coach Brian Clodi said of Egwu, who tallied 12 of his points during St. Ignatius' 21-12 third-quarter surge. “He was a game changer. We just couldn't buy a basket, and I think we were a little intimidated.”
St. Charles East, which trailed 22-13 at halftime, was held without a field goal for the first 6:30 of the third quarter while the Wolfpack went on a 17-6 run to up their lead to 39-19.
“We were down nine at the half — that wasn't the problem,” said Clodi. “We just didn't come out in the third quarter and make enough plays. It kind of snowballed against us.
“Basketball is a game of flow and we couldn't get into a flow because we didn't hit perimeter shots and we couldn't get any easy shots. And we had trouble with any defense we could get in.”
Egwu put on a personal highlight show in the third quarter as he hit a 10-foot, tough-angle fadeaway jumper from the baseline, banked in a left-handed baby hook shot, capped a fastbreak with a two-handed dunk, and nearly decapitated an official with his thunderous block on the defensive end.
“I don't how to describe it,” said Saints 6-5 junior forward Johnny Hondlik, who shared team-high scoring honors with Spencer Motley with 10 points. “He's a lot better than I expected. You can't practice against that.
“You don't have as much room (to shoot) as you think you do. We knew we weren't going to be able to go inside today so we tried to get it out but we failed to execute that.”
Marty McClure had 7 points for the Wolfpack, while Brian Howard, Tyronne Staggers and Brian Lynch each added 6.
Sophomore Kendall Stephens had 8 points and a team-high 9 rebounds for the Saints, including a buzzer-beating, first-quarter 55-foot shot that was a near-carbon copy of Motley's game-winner against top-seeded Maine South two days earlier.
This game, however, belonged to Egwu and the Wolfpack.
“We tried to downplay it but when a shot went up, if you didn't illegally box him out, he's so long that he'll keep it alive or get a tip-in,” said Clodi. “Kendall got in the lane and the next thing he's seeing 6-10 coming at him and he's like, ‘uh-oh.'
“He is a difference maker. He's a special player. That's what Illinois saw and that's why they offered (a scholarship) so early.”
St. Charles East will face Riverside-Brookfield in Thursday's seventh-place game at 2:30 p.m.