Addison Trail holds on in second half
There was only one problem with Addison Trail's first-half effort that bordered on flawless.
No way the Blazers could match it in the second half.
Addison Trail's boys basketball team notched a season high in points with Tuesday's 70-54 victory over visiting Maine East in a game played as part of the Lake Zurich MLK Classic.
Even though the Blazers (9-8) didn't play as well in the second half, they were still pretty strong. It's just that the first half was amazing, especially on offense.
"All around it was a great team effort," said Blazers senior guard Connor Palesch. "It's been a process with us offensively. We've just got to have faith in each other."
In the first half the Blazers made 14 of 21 shots from the field and committed only 3 turnovers as seven players knocked down shots. Junior Adem Mehmeti set the tone by hitting all five of his first-half shots including three 3-pointers.
After building a 21-11 lead by the end of the first quarter, the Blazers extended the advantage to 15 throughout the second quarter.
"We were all sticking together out there," Mehmeti said. "We knew where everyone was going to be. Defense is always going to be there, but offensively we still have our off days. If we're on our offensive game like that, it'll be hard for teams to beat us."
Addison Trail struggled to shake Maine East (5-10) in the second half as the turnovers doubled to eight and the Blue Demons continued to knock down 3-pointers. They made eight in the game and also converted four 3-point plays.
Maine East pulled within 6 points midway through the third quarter but Addison Trail responded with a 9-0 run.
Mehmeti led all scorers with 19 points while Palesch scored 18 points. Ramon Casey Jr. tallied 12 points off the bench and A.J. Parnell added 9 points. J.C. Noriega led Maine East with 13 points.
"That was probably our best half of the year," said Blazers coach Brendan Lyons. "The second half we weren't as good as we wanted to be, but we were still able to build a cushion."
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