Wheeling hopes win at Elk Grove generates momentum
Wheeling's boys basketball team is trying to show it is better than the 4-6 overall record it owns after Thursday night's cliffhanging 59-55 win at Elk Grove.
The Wildcats are hoping to use that initial Mid-Suburban East win of the season as a springboard to next week, when they host the 40th annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic, with the Cats opening against Fremd on Wednesday.
For now, Wheeling can enjoy this game and keep it in proper perspective - as a hard-fought win in which they kept their cool when down and maintained it in the face of a late charge from the hosts.
"We didn't have a lot of returning guys," said high-scorer Phil Bucko, whose big fourth quarter included a 3-point play on a feed from Michael Best on a fastbreak and subsequent free throws down the stretch with :19.5 and :2.4 seconds remaining, respectively, to help secure the win.
"We played a lot of young kids," said coach Michael O'Keeffe, who starts a junior and a freshman and comes with two relatively inexperienced juniors first off the bench. "We're still learning on the fly."
One of those juniors, Brandon Zettek, did his best in battling big Dylan Ingebrigtsen inside and came up with a key 3-pointer in the second quarter while Wheeling battled back from 19-13 down. Zettek added two important fourth-quarter free throws after grabbing a rebound of a teammate's free toss miscue.
"He's made some big plays for us," said O'Keeffe.
So has Bucko (16 points) and slick junior Michael Best (15). But with both in foul trouble, it was Zettek, D.J. Godlewski (with a pair of 3-pointers to start the second half) and freshman Joe Jordan who picked up the slack.
Bucko enjoys the responsibility of being the seasoned veteran on his team.
"We've been playing really good ball," he said.
Facing a team like Fremd, he knows, will take even better. Wheeling committed 11 turnovers against Elk Grove.
"We have to take better care of the ball," he noted after the Cats committed 11 turnovers in improving to 1-3 in the MSL East.
Elk Grove (0-10, 0-4) almost scored its first win - but coach Anthony Furman knew exactly where to look for the holes in the dam.
Wheeling, a 3-point-shooting team, had 6 on Thursday. And 5 of them came in the opening moments of the third quarter, with 4 consecutively from Godlewski, Best and Jeremy Kim.
"They made 5 in three minutes," said Furman after his team limited Wheeling to 1-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half and built something of a lead behind Ingebrigtsen (19 points), Tyler Selvig and Shivam Amin.
But Wheeling closed the half with a quick flurry from Bucko (who else?), Godlewski and Zettek.
"We played a good defensive first half, but we let them off the hook," Furman said.
Elk Grove's late rally was fueled by perimeter shooting from Ryley Rathman, Michael Achanzar and Ingebrigtsen. But Wheeling countered with solid free-throw shooting.
Now the Cats want to keep it going. "Everyday in practice, we stress just competing," Bucko noted.
And winning.