Win at West Chicago keeps Bartlett unbeaten in UEC Valley
Just when West Chicago seemed ready to pull within a point in the final minute of Friday's boys basketball game, Bartlett's Ben Fisher convinced his legs to lift him a couple extra inches off the ground.
Fisher's block of a West Chicago shot on a drive from the right wing came at just the right time for the Hawks, who withstood the Wildcats' rally to win 62-56 in a key Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division game.
"I was a little bouncy tonight," said Fisher, a 6-foot-2 junior. "It's not usual for me, but I just went up there and got it,"
"Ben's a really good, a sneaky athlete," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith added. "You don't think he can get up there, all of a sudden there he is above the rim."
That was West Chicago's last good chance to score. The basketball wound up in the hands of Bartlett's Tomas Vikonis, who sank a pair of free throws to make the score 61-56.
"With 50 seconds left it's our ball, it's a one-possession ballgame ... and we couldn't finish," West Chicago coach Bill Recchia said. "Couldn't finish tonight."
"It was huge," Fisher added. "It was a lot of momentum because we were losing momentum there. It was nice to get that, then get down here and get some free throws. We didn't capitalize on all of them, but it was good."
The Hawks made 12 of 15 free throws, 8 of 10 in the fourth quarter.
Bartlett scored the game's first 8 points, but West Chicago bounced back to tie the game at 21 after the first quarter. The Wildcats couldn't sustain that momentum, though, and the Hawks led 35-30 at halftime.
With just more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Hawks took a 51-39 lead on a Ben Tompson basket. That's when West Chicago started its finally rally, pulling within 3 points with 50 seconds left on a Jason Gimre 3-pointer.
"The pressure at the end was just a little too much. We've got to take care of the ball more," Fisher said.
The victory kept Bartlett (13-8, 6-0) alone atop the UEC Valley standings.
"We told them that West Chicago was going to be focused on this because they were chasing us by (three games) and West Aurora by (two)," Wolfsmith said. "... What we've done is we've held serve. That's our job. We've got to hold serve. We play these teams, road warriors, four of the last five conference games are on the road."
West Chicago (14-6, 2-4) may have lost its chance at the league title along with the game.
"Obviously, we've got to win out and hope for some help," Recchia said. "Realistically, are they going to lose four games? It can happen, but I don't know if it will."
Tompson and Drew Martin led Bartlett with 15 points, and Vikonis finished with 14. Tai Bibbs scored 16 to lead West Chicago, and Isaac Nelson added 12. Devonte Pascal had 9 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats.