In fast fashion, Proviso East stop Leyden

Ask Leyden boys basketball coach Bill Heisler how hard is it to simulate Proviso East's quickness and speed, and he'll have an answer for you.

"They are very athletic and will get you out of your comfort zone real fast," said Heisler. "They make you pay with their quickness when you have turnovers."

The Pirates used quick offensive spurts in downing the host Eagles 65-45 in Franklin Park on Friday night.

Proviso East pulled to .500 in the West Suburban Gold with a 1-1 mark and improved to 3-3 overall. Leyden dropped to 2-4 and 0-1.

Leyden played the Proviso East tough throughout the game, cutting double-figure deficits down to 7 and 9 points, but never quite got over the hump.

Trailing the Pirates 44-34 with 1:46 left in the third quarter following a basket by DeAndre Williams (13 points, 6 rebounds), Proviso East's Trevor Moore hit back-to-back 3s to put the Pirates in front 50-34 at quarter's end.

Proviso East then started the fourth quarter with a 7-3 run to lead 57-37.

Tajuan Johnson led the Pirates with 13 points and Raishon Alexander had 10 points. David Ewing came off the bench to notch 8.

"DeAndre made some good strides tonight," said Heisler. "We had a lot of players who gave us some positive minutes. I think we competed pretty well with them, but we turned the ball over too much. We took some good charges (8), and I was pleased with that. We did though have a tough time keeping them off the boards."

Proviso East out-rebounded Leyden 30-19.

Palatine 46, Northridge Prep 43: Nine Pirates made it into the scoring column for coach Eric Millstone, whose team improved to 5-3 with a nonconference victory in Niles.

Leading the way for Palatine were seniors Charlie Van Dyke (9 points), Jovone Stricker and Matt Mayer (8).

Van Dyke had three 3-pointers while Mayer had two.

Northridge Prep (3-4) was led by senior Pablo Esparza (12 points, two 3-pointers) and Patrick Hunt (11 points, three 3-pointers).