Focused Willowbrook tops Addison Trail
Now that Willowbrook's boys basketball team has grabbed control of the West Suburban Gold race, the Warriors don't plan on letting go.
The Warriors completed a weekend sweep in the Gold with Saturday's 50-38 victory at District 88 rival Addison Trail, extending their winning streak to 13 straight games and notching 20 wins for the second time in three years.
Coming off Friday's impressive win at Proviso East, Willowbrook (20-1, 7-1) showed full focus while building a double-digit second-quarter lead. Despite a late rally Addison Trail (13-9, 2-6) was unable to narrow the margin back to single digits.
"We came in focused," said Warriors sophomore guard Matas Masys. "We just thought we had to set the pace from the beginning. Our coach said we have to start off fast, get a quick lead and be off from there."
Both teams faced tough Friday road games in the Gold, and it likely took more out of the Blazers. Leading scorer Michael Williams missed Saturday's game due to an injury suffered in Friday's win over Morton, and bench players Mike Pudlo and Connor Palesch were also out.
After a sloppy first quarter Willowbrook opened up offensively. An 11-0 run pushed the lead to double digits, and then an 8-0 run to start the third quarter - sparked by a pair of 3s by Masys - put the game out of reach.
"They really got away from us at the beginning of the third and we just didn't have enough to come back," said Blazers coach Brendan Lyons. "Obviously, they're a good team and we did not want to get up and down with them tonight. We did whatever we could to make it a style we felt we could compete with."
Ethan Schuemer led Willowbrook with 17 points and 6 rebounds while Masys added 8 points. Breydon Hargrove led all scorers with 18 points for Addison Trail. Jack Kalbas scored 8 points.
Willowbrook returns to action Tuesday against Hoffman Estates. On Friday the Warriors have a rematch against Hinsdale South with the goal of avenging their only loss of the season.
"The focus is there," said Warriors coach Chris Perkins. "We accomplished our first goal to win our first three tournaments, and now our next goal is conference. It's tight at the top so every game is important going forward."
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