Downers Grove North doesn't let a couple days off get it down
The only rule the Downers Grove North boys basketball team has is simple.
No excuses.
Now put that within the context of a long, strange week that saw the so-called Polar Vortex place its icy claws on Chicagoland.
"We talked about it for a second and said it didn't matter and then had practice on Thursday afternoon," Downers North coach Jim Thomas said. "Had really good one, too."
The Trojans were out of school Monday, Wednesday and Thursday due to Mother Nature, but you wouldn't have guessed it based on their performance in a 65-61 West Suburban Silver win over Glenbard West on Friday.
Downers North came out blazing, canning five 3-pointers in the first quarter. And when the Hilltoppers locked down on their perimeter defense in the second quarter, the Trojans went inside and took a 35-24 lead into the half.
But when Glenbard West put together a 17-4 run in the fourth quarter - the same run it used to defeat Glenbard East last Saturday - the Trojans responded with a 7-2 run of its own in the last minute to salt away the victory.
That included going 5 for 8 from the free-throw line in the final 44.8 seconds, with 4 from senior guard Trey Boston, and a touchdown-pass transition layup by senior guard Connor Ilyavi.
"For this group the end-of-game situation stuff is the last piece of the puzzle," Thomas said. "We understand what we have to get better at. We found a way to win."
Don't get the impression the week was easy, though. Senior guard Sema'j Henderson scored 21 to lead the Trojans (17-8, 5-4) but appreciated the fact that the team convened for practice Thursday, despite being out of school.
"We were trying to find gyms, but all the gyms were closed," Henderson said. "Everything was closed because of the weather, so Coach made us do a lot of running on Thursday to get our legs back fresh. I thank Coach for making us run, because it got us right back in condition for this game today."
Meanwhile, Glenbard West (16-6, 4-4) had the same weather-related challenges, but the Hilltoppers awoke early in the fourth quarter with that 17-4 spurt, which included a 3-pointer from freshman forward Braden Huff and 7 points from senior center Caden Phillips, who finished with 16 points despite recovering from an ankle tweak suffered last week against St. Charles East.
"We were a little bit out of rhythm," Phillips said. "They closed school on Wednesday for us, so we had a day off then, but we just came early in the gym on Thursday and had to lock down and get ready for these guys."
Phillips hit on a layup with 1:17 left in the contest, then made 1 of 2 free throws that cut his team's deficit to just 58-57 with 1:01 to go.
But Downers North got a free throw from Henderson with 44.8 to go, and when he missed the second, he got his own rebound, which ultimately led to a pair of free throws from Boston. Fifteen seconds later, Ilyavi hit on his long-pass layup.
"We just spotted them a little too much early," Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder said. "In the fourth quarter I thought we kept chipping away, made a few nice plays and made some stops. We had just a little too big of a hole to dig out of."