Bikus, Mundelein roll over Collins in season opener; Warren falls

Jack Bikus has seen a game like this one opening the Thanksgiving tournament on Monday night. He had a team-high 22 points that included pouring in six 3-pointers in leading host Mundelein past Collins Academy 76-48.

Bikus had a similar game in the Carbondale tournament over the holiday break last winter.

"Scottie (Ebube) did a great job getting me the ball when the defense collapsed on him," Bikus said. " He just found the open man and I was lucky enough to hit the open shots. We knew that (Collins) was going to try to run and gun us. We just kept our composure and did what we had to do."

Ebube did his part with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots, while Drake recruit Conor Enright also dropped in 17 points of his own and pulled down 5 boards.

The Mustangs ran out to a 25-10 lead by the end of the opening quarter and doubled the score to 48-24 by the break.

"I thought our intensity was certainly there," Mundelein coach Matt Badgley said. "We came out with a lot of intensity to start that ballgame. We kept it going, but it was kind of hard to keep that highway and speed going throughout the game. We just kind of played and we saw a lot of things we have to build and work on. Like everybody else to get this first week in and see where were at - anytime you can get a win it's a good win."

Collins made a push back in the third quarter and cut the margin to 16, but Mundelein responded the rest of the way.

Deerfield 62, Warren 61: Jason Langevin had just played a handful of games toward the end of last season for Warren. He opened this season as a starter for the Blue Devils and found more than he expected on the floor, leading his team with 18 points.

However, Warren made a strong push in the final minutes coming back twice from 7-point deficits and ended up in a 62-61 defeat to Deerfield in its opener on Monday night.

"I think it really helped me at the end of last season and it will help me this year," Langevin said. "I just had to be patient and I knew my teammates are always looking for me. If I'm open I would shoot it. Just being patient and getting open really helped me. We did fight really hard and made a comeback, but most teams would put their heads down there."

The Blue Devils made a late run and took the lead on a jump shot by Alex Figueroa (11 points) for a 61-60 lead with 20 seconds left in the game.

Deerfield's Walt Mattingly (18 points) came right back at Warren, as he scored on a layup that put the Warriors up by 1 point with 11.7 seconds left in the game.

Warren had a chance to take one last shot before time elapsed but it turned the ball over before getting a shot away.

"Obviously, Deerfield out-executed us by a point," Warren coach Jon Jasnoch said. "We came back and hit some 3s, we forced some turnovers and got the lead. But, we just couldn't hold that lead. They came right back and drove on us. We just had a little defensive breakdown and they scored. Then we came back and didn't execute offensively, just not run the play well. Still it was an outstanding effort."

Adnan Sarancic added 16 second-half points and 7 rebounds for the Blue Devils while Brandon Lieb (6-foot-11) added 17 points and 9 rebounds for the Warriors.

"I thought both teams played pretty clean basketball, but defensively we were a little bit sloppy at times," Deerfield coach Dan McKendrick said. "(Warren) made big shot after big shot in the second half. It came down to the end where Walt made a big play."

Both teams were without a number of players that are involved in football including Warren's Juan DelaCruz, Seamus Mellican and Joshua Gary-Turner. Deerfield was missing James Lindquist, Colin Ward and Luke Woodson.