St. Viator falls to Evanston in Majkowski title game
Saturday's championship game of St. Viator Joe Majkowski Thanksgiving Basketball Classic was a measuring stick for the host Lions. And although they lost 72-63, St. Viator learned that it really doesn't have that far to go.
Evanston, which finished third in Class 4A and is ranked in the top 5 in the Chicago area, showed St. Viator that the road to success is not that far away.
"They are better than us right now," St. Viator coach Quin Hayes said. "Playing them right now makes us better. It gives our juniors minutes in games that give them March minutes in November. It really preps us for the end of the year."
Hayes, whose Lions will be in Class 3A this season, said that he liked how his team competed.
"I am proud of the boys' efforts tonight," Hayes said. "Execution we struggled with at times, but that is what they are going to do to you. There were a few stretches where they sped things up a bit. That's what they do. But again, I was proud of our effort."
Evanston showed that five players and balanced play can be the key to success.
"When our guys play unselfish, they are hard to guard," said Evanston coach Mike Ellis, who had all five of his starters in double figures.
"We don't feel that there is a position on the court where we are vulnerable. We feel like we can score from the perimeter or inside."
Hayes said he knew what his team was up against.
"They are very, very good basketball team for a reason," Hayes said. "No matter who they play, there is not that much of a drop off."
Despite that, St., Viator (3-1) was in the game.
The Lions had the lead early in the second quarter before Evanston (4-0) pulled ahead to lead 33-31 at the half.
Evanston started going long in the third quarter as the Wildkits knocked down four 3-pointers and suddenly opened up a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. The Wildkits stretched that to 63-50 advantage with 5:04 and appeared headed to a blowout.
Viator dug in and chipped away thanks to Jeremiah Hernandez, Treyvon Calvin and Michael Huene. The Lions got the lead down to 6 points on three different occasions, but just couldn't get over the top.
Hernandez said this game was a good learning experience.
"That is a talented team and they are battle-tested," Hernandez said. "This game just made us better today. This is game four of the season. We are going to go back to practice and work hard. We just want to show people that we have plenty left in the tank."
Hernandez and Calvin each scored 22 points for the Lions while Huene had 11 points and 5 rebounds.
Evanston was led by talented sophomore Jaylin Gibson, who had 17 points. Lance Jones had 15 points while Jaheim Holden, Blake Peters and Ryan Bost each had 12 points.