WWS stays perfect in 61-38 win over Hinsdale South

Make it six in a row to start the season for the Wheaton Warrenville South boys basketball team.

The Tigers moved their record to 6-0 on the young season Monday night.

Sophomore Derek Babb scored 16 points and senior Sam Carlson chipped in 13 as Wheaton Warrenville South defeated Hinsdale Central 61-38 in Wheaton.

"Last year at this point we were all down and feeling bad about ourselves," Babb said. "Everyone works hard, and we definitely want to continue to build off of it."

The Tigers finally started clicking offensively, the way coach Mike Healy wanted, leading to 10 different players registering points on the stat sheet.

"This is the first game we kind of looked better offensively. We were a lot more patient, we were cutting harder, (and) I thought our spacing was a lot better," Healy said. "Our spacing allowed us to be a little bit more aggressive with our dribble penetration, so that's got to continue.

"That's what we do, and that's what we want them to believe that that's how we're going to score."

Wheaton Warrenville South jumped out to a 16-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed it to 25-13 midway through the second, courtesy of a Dan Phillip jumper.

Phillip found the net again just before halftime, nailing a 3-pointer right as the buzzer sounded that gave the Tigers a 13-point halftime lead.

"When you're playing well and you're playing with energy, sometimes the ball bounces your way and falls your way, and you create some of your luck and your breaks," Healy said. "I thought we did a great job tonight of creating breaks for ourselves, and creating some opportunities for ourselves."

Wheaton Warrenville South's defensive effort proved just as encouraging.

"They played extremely well, they played extremely hard, and they rebounded the ball well so (Hinsdale Central) didn't get any second-chance points," Healy said.

The Red Devils (3-2) were unable to muster much of anything on their end, but coach Ed Lynch is looking at the bigger picture.

"I don't take too much stock in what we did tonight. Championships aren't won in December," he said. "We're an inexperienced team, and I think it showed a little bit tonight.

"We're 3-2 now, and we played a team on their home floor that had a lot of confidence. They're 5-0 for a reason."