advertisement

Stevenson motors past New Trier

The pressure that Stevenson's boys basketball team faced as the top seed and the defending champion of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament is nothing compared to the obstacle the Patriots have seen a couple of times already this season: brutal rush-hour traffic.

"I don't know what it is, but we have had that happen twice now," Patriots coach Pat Ambrose said.

The first incident came at the Thanksgiving tournament at Lyons Township, when the Patriots arrived after the scheduled tip. The latest came Monday night, but the rush-hour traffic was about the only thing that slowed the Patriots down in their opening-round contest at the 54th edition of this tournament.

Stevenson raced out to a 26-7 lead after one quarter and a 52-16 advantage at the half en route to an 86-33 win over New Trier.

Stevenson (8-0) will face Maine South in a quarterfinal contest at 4 p.m. Tuesday. New Trier (5-5) next faces Uplift at 9:30 a.m.

"New Trier had the same kind of issues we did getting here," Ambrose said. "We started out well but we have some things we can still improve on."

The Patriots used their stifling half-court defense to hold the Trevians without a field goal for better than six minutes of the first half. In doing so, Stevenson built a 19-point advantage after one quarter.

"For us it's not about just one player on defense or in our passing game," Ambrose said. "When we move it through all five guys we can be very effective."

The offense runs through Villanova-bound senior Jalen Brunson, and in just over 2 quarters worth of work, he tallied 7 assists to go with his game-high 20 points.

"We came out well as a team," Brunson said. "We knew New Trier was going to come out hard after us after what happened last year, so we had to be ready."

Brunson and his running mate, Rice recruit Connor Cashaw, were equally good defensively in holding the Trevians to under 20 percent shooting from the floor in the first half. Cashaw finished with 18 points.

Though the Patriots had plenty to be happy about, the team found out earlier this week that senior Cameron Green, a member of the Class 8A state football champions and a Northwestern signee, will be lost for the season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, an injury he suffered way back in Week 2 of the football season.

"That's a big loss - a tough loss for us," Ambrose said. "We aren't happy about it, but we are happy that he will get it fixed January 6th and be healthy for next year."

Brunson, too, will miss his teammate of the last 3 years.

"He is such a good asset to our team," Brunson said. "He's a vocal leader and will be on the sidelines and at practice being the biggest supporter and talker we have."

Other Patriot players in double figures included Matt Johnson (13), Justin Smith (12), and Ryuji Aoki (12).

Michael Hurley led New Trier with 9 points.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.