Stevenson rolls past Yorkville Christian

Two 8-1 boys basketball teams met at Stevenson on Friday night.

And visiting Yorkville Christian was within 5-3, 7-6 and 11-9 early.

Hint, hint. Stevenson (9-1) led 25-9 at the end of the first quarter.

It did not get closer.

Stevenson's ninth victory was rather lopsided. The Patriots never trailed in a 74-38 nonconference rout.

'They are a great team,'' noted Stevenson junior guard Evan Ambrose. "But we focused on defense tonight. We tried to make stops."

Ambrose did his damage in the first half. He had all of his 8 points in the opening half. He added 3 steals and 3 rebounds.

His older brother, Matthew Ambrose, drilled three 3-pointers in a row in the third quarter. He finished with 16 points.

Getting off to a fast start was 6-foot-6 Robert Holmes. He was actually tied with Yorkville at 6-6 early. He finished with 10 points and 8 boards.

"I'm out to rebound and slash to the basket,'' Holmes said. "We thought they were a good team. We needed to punch them in the mouth early."

Yorkville buried five straight 3s to open its scoring. Still the Mustangs trailed 42-17 at halftime.

Stevenson landed six 3-pointers in the third quarter. Matt Ambrose was joined by Matthew Kaznikov with 3 more. Kaznikov finished with a team-high 18 points.

End of three: Stevenson 66, Yorkville Christian 32. Freshman Brayden Long led all scorers with 19 points for the visitors.

"I consider myself a defensive stopper,'' Evan Ambrose added.."I love calling out the plays. The guys on the team are great. They are all my brothers."

"Records don't mean anything,'' Holmes said. "We are an improving team."

John Ittounas added 11 points for Stevenson,