Westmont blanks Lisle

Lisle’s “White Out” night brought out one of the biggest crowds at a home basketball game this season.

Unfortunately for the Lions, the game was not one the players will be remembering anytime soon.

Lisle (5-11, 2-4) managed just 9 field goals in a 47-32 loss to Westmont (8-9, 4-2) in an Interstate Eight Conference contest Friday night.

The 9 field goals, comprising 4 in the first half and 5 in the second, were the result of hesitant play, according to Lisle coach Mark LaScala.

“I was really surprised at how hesitant we were,” LaScala said. “Early on, (Anthony) Vacco hit a couple of 3s, but Westmont played exactly the kind of defense that we prepared for. We seemed very hesitant and we had a lot of turnovers, especially in the first half.”

The game was a back-and-forth battle for much of the first half as Lisle’s biggest advantage was 3 points and Westmont’s was 6 points. Westmont held its largest advantage of the half when a basket by Calvin Casper made the score 20-14.

Chris Wray’s jumper with just seconds left before halftime trimmed the Sentinels lead to 20-16.

Wray, who led his team with 11 points and was the only Lions player in double figures, tried to remain upbeat during the postgame.

“The season’s not over because of one game,” he said. We’ll come back on Monday ready to work.”

Wray scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to cut the Westmont lead to 29-24, but the Sentinels used an 11-0 run to put the game away as sophomore forward Jean Pietrzak scored 6 of his 11 points during that run.

“We had some breakdowns defensively that allowed Westmont to get the ball on the base line,” LaScala said. “It’s something we kept trying to correct by taking kids out and showing them what they did wrong, but it didn’t get corrected as quickly as we wanted it to and they took advantage.”

Calvin Casper led Westmont with 14 points before fouling out, while Kevin Good added 13 for the Sentinels.

Vacco and Kyle Frazier finished with 6 points apiece for the Lions.

While disappointed with the outcome, LaScala praised the school spirit shown by the student body’s participation in the “White Out” night.

“It was great school spirit tonight; something the cheerleaders put together,” LaScala said. “I just wish we could have given the crowd something to cheer about.”