WW South knocks off Wheaton North
Wheaton Warrenville South is getting healthy at the right time, and the wins have followed in the process.
A healthy Tigers squad paid dividends during a 57-48 victory over cross-town rival Wheaton North on Friday night, their fifth straight victory.
“We’re getting healthy,” Tigers coach Mike Healy said. “(Dan) Roadman came back at Christmas time and getting Travis (Kern) back tonight was huge. We started four football guys tonight that weren’t with us for the first few weeks. We’re finally getting to the point where we’re getting used to each other.”
Friday’s game marked the return of Kern, who after breaking his collarbone during the semifinals of the state football playoffs, finished with 13 points in his first basketball action of the season.
“The thing I enjoy most is playing with my teammates, and that’s probably what I missed the most,” Kern said. “I was happy we were able to play with each other and for each other and we pulled out a win.”
If the first half was any indication, it looked as if Wheaton Warrenville South (14-9, 7-4) was going to run away with the game. The Tigers held the Falcons to only 4-of-17 shooting in the first two quarters and led 23-9 at halftime.
“I don’t think we were moving well offensively and we weren’t defending well,” Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos said of his team’s first half performance. “South did a great job moving the ball, they defended us, they hit open shots and did exactly what they wanted to do.”
The Falcons (11-11, 4-7) found their shooting stride in the third quarter, connecting on 8 of 11 from the field. A 3-pointer by Jeff Schalk cut the Tigers lead to 30-26, before a 9-4 run by Wheaton Warrenville South made the score 39-30 heading into the final quarter.
The closest Wheaton North got was a 2-point deficit after Richard Finley knocked down a baseline 3-pointer with 2:01 remaining in the game, which made the score 45-43. Finley scored 13 points in the game.
From there the Tigers made the most of their opportunities at the free-throw line. They finished 12 of 12 from the line in the final two minutes as Reilly O’Toole was 8 of 8 during that stretch. O’Toole finished with 14 points
“We were chasing them the whole way,” Nazos said. “We got close but never got over the hump.”
Jason Schuman finished with 7 points and 13 rebounds for Wheaton Warrenville South.
“Jason played great. I think his and Tim Zyburt’s offensive rebounds got us a bunch of extra points,” Healy said. “We said that if we just went first possessions against them, it might have been a different game. But our offensive rebounding gave us additional opportunities to score.”