Stevenson adjusts, handles Highland Park
The deliberate style of halfcourt basketball that a team like Highland Park employs can be difficult to prepare for.
And having less than a day to get ready for it was the challenge facing No. 3 seed and defending Class 4A champion Stevenson faced as the Patriots opened up defense of their state title against the No. 19-seeded Giants.
The Patriots struggled to overcome the Giants' Princeton-style offense and stingy half-court defense. Just a 15-14 lead at halftime for Stevenson was proof enough.
As always, Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose had the perfect halftime remedy.
"Maybe I just relaxed them by not saying much at all," Ambrose said with a smile afterward. "I didn't scream or shout or pound things. We just had to adjust a few things that we did not do that we'd talked about before the game."
One of those adjustments was getting the ball into the hands of the Patriots' two best scorers - junior Justin Smith and senior Ryuji Aoki.
Stevenson went to Smith early and often in the third as he scored 10 of his game-best 19 in the period to help the Patriots advance to a date in the Class 4A Maine South regional final with a 50-27 win over the Giants. The Patriots have won 9 straight.
Stevenson (23-6), in a regional final for the fifth consecutive year, will face regional host and No. 7-seeded Hawks, a 44-43 winner over Zion, at 7 p.m. Friday. Highland Park finishes its season 10-17.
"In that third quarter we just refocused," said Stevenson senior Rodney Herenton, Jr. "We gave up only 13 points in the second half and I don't think we gave up an offensive rebound."
Stevenson closed the first half by scoring the last 6 points to take the 15-14 advantage. The offense seemed to move much more smoothly in the third quarter as it ran through Smith and Aoki. Smith scored 6 of the first 12 points of the quarter for Stevenson as the Patriots rattled off a 14-2 run over the first five-plus minutes to put the game out of reach.
Aoki also heated up in the second half. After making 2 of his first 5 3-pointers in the first half, he nailed all 4 of his attempts after halftime and finished with 18 points.
"He was awful good (in the third quarter)," said Ambrose of Aoki. "He is a real good shooter and can get hot, so we weren't surprised at all."
The Giants, who were led by Zach Fleisher's 10 points, hit just 2 field goals in the third quarter and were outscored 19-5 by the Patriots.
"(Stevenson) just tightened up some on defense in the third quarter," said Highland Park coach Paul Harris. "Then Smith and Aoki just decided they were going to make this happen for them and they took over from there."