Lisle advances past Westmont in regional
The transition game of Lisle's boys basketball team is a beautiful thing, but not to Westmont.
Topping the Sentinels for the third time this season, on Monday No. 5 seed Lisle beat No. 10 Westmont 61-50 in a Class 2A Aurora Christian regional quarterfinal. The Lions advance to play No. 4 seed IC Catholic Prep at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Paced by Mark McGrath's 29 points and 12 rebounds, Lisle (17-12) won the rebound battle 34-24, including 17 offensive rebounds. Take away errant 3-point shooting and the Lions made 24 of 40 2-point shots.
Westmont (8-21) committed just 10 turnovers but Lisle converted most, 17-point scorer Adalberto Gutierrez often benefiting with easy layups.
"With the five-guard set which we have - we don't really have a true 'big' - we like to get up and down the floor as much as possible. Especially when other teams with bigs can't run the floor as well as we can," said Lisle senior guard Ryan Gillen.
A key matchup was the 6-foot-2 McGrath against Westmont's athletic, 6-4 forward Kyle Domin, who came in averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds.
McGrath held the Upper Iowa University football recruit to 4 points and 1 rebound in the first half, though Domin finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
"Mark's a warrior," said Lisle coach Mark LaScala.
"I had to pick my spots on when to try to get (the ball)," McGrath said, "but don't be overaggressive at the same time, and then just hold my ground and be strong and stay straight up with him."
Westmont led 9-8 at 2:29 of the first quarter on two free throws by freshman Caden Anderson. Spanning the first and second quarters Lisle burst to a 15-2 run and lead 25-16 at halftime.
Three Domin baskets had the Sentinels within 28-22 at 5:37 of the third. Lisle scored the next 8 points, Gillen leading an up-tempo attack.
"They definitely run the floor better than we do, and in order for us to stop that we have to have good offensive possessions, we've got to make sure that we're working for a good shot, we have to slow things down. We did it sometimes, but just not enough," said Westmont coach Craig Etheridge.
Down 38-29 after three quarters, Westmont crept within 44-38 with 4:04 left on an inside bucket by Anderson, J.P. Leagogo's 3, and 2 Domin free throws.
Gutierrez, Gillen and McGrath answered with 9 straight points and held at least a 10-point lead thereafter to end the prep basketball tenures of Sentinels Domin, Leagogo, Luke Jagielo and Adam Doll.
"Since I'm a senior I just wanted to leave everything out there with my team and just play my heart out every play," Domin said. "It was a great time. Even though we came out on the losing end it was a really good time."