Freshman sparks Bartlett in win over Streamwood
Streamwood's defense sold out to stop Bartlett's big man Conrad Luczynski, so the Hawks turned to their perimeter sharpshooters to gun down the Sabres.
Freshman Kelton McEwen scored 25 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Bartlett drained a total of 14 from beyond the arc in defeating the Sabres, 79-68, in Upstate Eight action in Streamwood.
The Sabres matched the Hawks from long distance, also making 14 3-pointers compared to just 11 2-pointers. Streamwood led 46-39 after a - what else - 3-pointer by Richard Santiago, but the Hawks responded with a 17-5 run to take the lead for good.
McEwen hit 3s on 4 straight Bartlett possessions to open the run and Ian Smith finished it with another.
After Streamwood got within 63-61, the Hawks rattled off a 16-4 spurt to put it away.
"My teammates were giving me open looks and I just took advantage of it," said McEwen. "We did a great job of breaking their press. Streamwood's a good team. They put a lot of pressure on our ballhandlers and we did a good job of beating the pressure."
At times the third quarter seemed like a 3-point contest between McEwen and Streamwood's Cristian Calderon, who made 3 from long distance to McEwen's 4. The visitors outscored the hosts 26-19 in that wild quarter.
The big second-half runs came after Bartlett figured out how to handle Streamwood's full-court pressure. The Sabres' relentless press forced 15 first-half turnovers, but the Hawks looked much more comfortable against the pressure after the break.
"I thought in the second half we handled their pressure and got the ball down," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "They were doing everything they could to take Conrad away: fronting him, back, double guys, which was open up drives and our guys did a great job of taking advantage of it."
Smith finished with 15 points, Clark Lewis added 13, and George Betevis 10 for the Hawks (4-1, 2-0). Luczynski finished with 9 points and 12 rebounds. Lewis added 7 boards as the Hawks won the rebounding battle, 36-21.
Jakobe Strong had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists for Streamwood. Zachary Marquez and Calderon each scored 15 for the Sabres.
The first half was back and forth. Bartlett led 9-0 after 3-pointers by Smith, Betevis, and Lewis. Streamwood stormed back to lead briefly before finishing the first quarter tied at 15.
The Sabres led by as many as 7 in the second quarter. Bartlett scored 11 straight to go up 35-31, but Streamwood scored the last 5 before halftime.