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Wheeling shoots down Elk Grove

There was a slight problem with the one of the baskets Thursday night at Elk Grove.

Shooting the ball into the basket, however - that was no problem at all for visiting Wheeling.

Just prior to tipoff, the apparatus that holds the East-facing stanchion had to be raised and lowered three times to make sure that it was locked down in the proper position.

Once the game started, it was the Wildcats - shooting toward the East bucket - who were locked in.

Wheeling was 9-for-13 from the floor in the first quarter in running out to a big lead in a 69-53 Mid-Suburban East boys basketball victory.

"I thought our energy level was a little low in first minute of the game," said Wildcats coach Michael O'Keeffe," but minutes two through 16, we were really good.

"Our offense was much better than its been the last couple of weeks," added O'Keeffe, whose team continued its hot shooting in the second quarter. "And on defense, our 1-3-1 disrupted them a little bit."

Elk Grove hit the first basket of the game, then Wheeling, led by 8 first-period points from Jaden Terrell, scored the next 15.

And when teammate Aima Igiehon stole the ball and sank a layup late in the second quarter, the Wildcats led 38-20 - but Elk Grove responded in a big way after intermission.

"The second half," said O'Keeffe, "was a completely different story."

Grens senior guard Mark Matos scored 8 third-quarter points, and Elk Grove used a suffocating defensive effort to close the gap.

And when Grenadiers senior Devin McKinney hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth, then assisted on a layup by teammate Mauro Garay, the home team trailed just 51-48.

"We turned the ball over a lot in the first half, so we knew we had to come out in the second half and do something different," said Matos. "We did a good job of rotating, getting steals and getting out in transition, and knocking down our shots."

The Grens had a chance to get even closer, but Wheeling quickly righted the ship by scoring 13 straight points, highlighted by 8 points in the stanza from 6-foot-2 forward Javen Reid, to put the game out of reach.

Joe Jordan scored 18 points and had 9 rebounds for Wheeling, while Terrell finished with 12 points and Igiehon added 11.

Matos had a contest-high 19 points.

"We're never out of any game at any moment," said Matos of the Grens' rally.

Prior to the game, there was a ceremony on the court where each player honored an educator or coach at the school who has been most influential in their lives, and Matos chose football and track coach Miles Osei,

"He does a lot," said Matos, who is a wide receiver and safety on the Grens' football roster. "I can go to him with anything and he's always there for me."

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