Rebnord, Stevenson bounce back vs. Lakes
Daniel Rebnord, Stevenson's 6-foot-6 senior center, spent the summer as a counselor for the Buffalo Grove Park District.
Any time he was on break or had some down time, Rebnord worked on playing with his back to the basket. His hard work was on display Wednesday when he scored 10 points in Stevenson's 65-44 victory over Lakes in the Bison Classic at Buffalo Grove.
"We emphasize getting the ball inside, and my teammates did a good job of looking for me," Rebnord said.
Coach Pat Ambrose liked the way Rebnord used his size to his advantage.
"His post moves have improved a lot," Ambrose said.
Stevenson wanted a strong effort after losing to Elgin 68-58 in overtime on Tuesday.
Although the Patriots dominated the first quarter, the initial two possessions were all Lakes. Eagles senior Kevin Guirand and sophomore teammate John Androus blocked Stevenson's first two shots. A 3-point play by senior Trey Williams gave the Eagles a 3-0 advantage.
Stevenson responded with nine consecutive points and led 27-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Patriots (2-1) also limited Lakes (1-1) to 6 points in the third quarter.
"They got some easy baskets in transition and we took some early shots," Lakes coach Brian Phelan said. "We wanted a better showing."
Guirand took a knee to his thigh in Lakes' 83-63 victory over Holy Trinity on Tuesday. Although he scored 10 points, he was not at the top of his game.
"He was a wounded warrior," Phelan said.
Williams scored a team-high 12 points for Lakes. Senior Kevin Rice knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and had 9 points.
Androus showed flashes in his second varsity game of the season.
"He has a great basketball IQ," Phelan said.
Senior guard Kevin Stineman led Stevenson with 12 points. Senior Dylan Richter added 10 points.
The Patriots had success from the perimeter and in the paint. They crashed the boards all game on offense while limiting Lakes to one shot.
"They had too many second-chance points," Williams said.
BG 69, Holy Trinity 48: It took Buffalo Grove about 16 minutes and one second to get started.
Once the Bison finally got rolling, there was nothing anyone could do to stop them Wednesday night.
BG (2-0) took a 31-27 lead into halftime and came out of the locker room a different team. Brian DeSimone scored 14 of his team-high 18 points in the third quarter, and the Bison cruised to a 69-48 victory over Holy Trinity in the Bison Classic boys basketball tournament.
"We'd hope that would be the first quarter," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "There were two ways you could go. The kids responded to their frustration."
The frustration, according to O'Connor and DeSimone came from not playing the kind of defense necessary to control the game.
"It looked like we were playing a game of 'horse' in the first half," O'Connor said. "We were letting them tee-up their shots, and we can't do that."
"We wanted to focus on defense," DeSimone said. "We came down (to the locker room) a little frustrated by the way we played in the first half. We made that a point in the second half."
The Bison opened with an 18-0 run, 12 of which were scored by DeSimone, and outscored the Tigers 27-5 in the quarter and led 58-32.
"I didn't say anything specific to him," O'Connor said. "He's a senior and has been around for four years."
The Bison wasted a 22-11 second-quarter lead, thanks to a 16-5 run that tied the game at 27 with 1:07 left in the half. The Tigers' surge was sparked by the game's leading scorer, Von-Julius Wright (21 points). Wright scored 10 points in the quarter. Mike Ricciardi scored 7 of his 14 points in the second quarter for BG.
A basket by Kevin Mulligan (10 points) and 2 DeSimone free throws gave the Bison their 31-27 halftime lead.
"We committed the cardinal sin," O'Connor said. "We allowed them to get confident in the first half."
The second half took care of that.
-- Larry Weindruch