advertisement

Maine West can't overcome first-half deficit

You couldn't blame Maine West boys basketball coach John Bongiorno if he rearranged the Warriors' locker room a bit at halftime on Tuesday night.

Maine East exploded to a 41-24 halftime lead and went on to beat Maine West 69-57 in Des Plaines.

"I stressed to the players at halftime to get back to what we do in practice," said Bongiorno. "We started out the game slow, falling behind 7-1, and then we caught up to 13-9 to end the quarter."

The second quarter was the Warriors' undoing.

Maine West (2-4, 0-1) turned the ball over six times and could not keep the 5-0, 1-0 Blue Demons (5-0, 1-0) as they continued to build on their lead.

"The difference really came at the end of the first quarter," said Maine East coach Dave Genis. "We weren't hitting the boards well on the offensive end. We want to get the ball off the shot and run."

Maine East converted four offensive rebounds into points in the quarter and turned six Maine West turnovers into 5 points.

A 3-pointer by Alan Rathappill (11 points) to begin the quarter cut the lead to 13-12.

Maine East then went on a 14-3 run to lead 27-15.

Leading 30-20, the Blue Demons ran off 11 points in a row for a 41-20 lead before West's Marian Johnson (18 points, 7 rebounds) and Randy Kent (16 points, 6 rebounds) scored before the half.

The Warriors came out aggressive and chopped the lead to 42-35 with 5:26 left in the third quarter when Genis called a timeout.

"At that point, we had the ball with a chance to cut it to 5," Bongiorno said. "But we had a turnover and they went on another run."

The Blue Demons' 7-0 spurt made it 51-37 with 1:36 left in the quarter.

"At halftime, we talked about coming out strong and being more aggressive," Johnson said. "But we let it slip away. We have to eliminate our mental mistakes. We have to stay focused."

Johnson's basket to started the final quarter got West to within 51-41.

But Maine East's Ahsoor Doushow (23 points) scored 8 of the Demons' 11 points in an 11-3 run to put the game away (62-44 with 3:46 left).

Calvin Louis-Jean tallied 14 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for Maine East.

"This is a great feeling being 5-0 at this point," said Jean-Louis said. "We know we still have 20 games to go but it's a good-feeling start for us."

"I can't tell you the last time Maine East started out 5-0," Genis said. "It has to go back to somewhere around 2001."

Bongiorno still feels there is plenty of time to turn things around.

"Sure we're young and tonight we started four sophomores and a junior," Bongiorno said. "But these guys are on the varsity for a reason. We just have to find ways to get the right combinations together both on offense and defense. We find ways to get back in games, but then we have breakdowns. It's something we have to overcome."

Prospect 67, Barrington 50: The host Knights produced their highest-scoring game of the season in rolling past the Broncos in a Mid-Suburban League divisional crossover matchup.

Frankie Mack led the way with a game-high 18 points, which included 5-for-8 from 2-point range and 1-for-3 from 3.

Prospect ended up shooting 59 percent from 2-point range and 55 percent from 3 as a team.

"The biggest thing is we did a good job of knocking down our shots," said Knights coach John Camardella.

It also helped that Prospect (3-3) out-rebounded a taller Barrington lineup 33-25.

"Our guys knew their size was a concern, so they were extremely focused on rebounding the ball," Camardella said.

David Swedura contributed 13 points and Antonio Gardner had 10 for the Knights, who hit a season-high for assists with 14. Matt Szuba led the way individually with 4.

Senior center Will Reinhard led Barrington (5-2) with 18 points, and Ben Weber had 12. Both had a pair of 3-pointers.

Szuba and Reinhard both finished with 9 rebounds.

Schaumburg Christian 50, Hinsdale Adventist 40: Joey Alsum and Michael Petrella finished with 15 points apiece to help the Conquerors to a victory.

Images: Maine East vs. Maine West boys basketball

  Maine West's JoJo Rios drives for a layup as Maine East's Calvin Jean Louis defends during Tuesday's game in Des Plaines. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Maine West's Stefan Balaban has his shot blocked by Maine East's Calvin Jean Louis during Tuesday's game in Des Plaines. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Maine West's Marion Johnson protects the ball as he looks to make a layup as Maine East's Ashoor Doushow defends during Tuesday's game in Des Plaines. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.