Evanston's pressure puts a hurt on Stevenson

It doesn't matter to the Evanston boys basketball team what style of game its opponent plays. If it's a slow-down style, that works for the Wildkits.

Half-court basketball suits Evanston just fine -- and an all-out, up-and-down-the-court game makes all the Wildkits happy.

When it came time for Evanston to pick the type of game it wanted to play, visiting Stevenson couldn't adjust.

The host Wildkits opened a tight second half with a wild half-court trapping defense that forced Stevenson turnovers aplenty. The up-tempo style contributed to a 16-0 run that helped Evanston sting Stevenson 62-48 in a nonconference game Saturday night.

"We felt like if we could pressure (Stevenson) we could force turnovers and get the game to the tempo we wanted," said Evanston coach Bobby Locke. "We like the up-tempo style, but we can play any style. If a team wants to slow it down we can do that too."

Evanston (13-2) started slow to start the third quarter and actually trailed Stevenson 31-27 after a 3-pointer by Kevin Stineman, who led the Patriots with 15 points.

The quick burst by Stevenson (9-6) gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the night before a timeout by Locke signaled the start of the Wildkits' run.

The hosts proceeded to score the next 16 points after the timeout -- and the lead ballooned to 43-31 late in the third quarter.

"(Evanston's) pressure defense killed us and we turned it over to many times," said Stevenson senior Michael Goldstein of the 7 third-quarter turnovers. "Evanston tried to speed things up. We learned from it, but we just didn't adjust quickly enough."

Freshman guard Garrett Jones was a big key to the run as he hit on 7 of his 11 points in the big third quarter.

Stevenson pecked away at the Evanston margin to start the fourth quarter and got as close as 51-48 with 2:54 to go on the second 3-pointer of the night by Stineman. But as quickly as the Patriots got close, Stephen Rudnicki and the Wildkits pulled away equally as quick.

Rudnicki was deadly from behind the arc, and he was just as good at the line as his 21 points led Evanston and helped the Wildkits stall the Stevenson rally.

"(Evanston) hit some 3s and then the free throws at the end hurt," Goldstein said. "We played hard, but they just made their shots at the end."

Stevenson went toe-to-toe with Evanston throughout the first half, battling to a 27-26 deficit at intermission. Dylan Richter helped pace the Patriots attack by scoring 8 of his 12 points in the first half. But turnovers and missed shots killed the Patriots in the decisive third quarter.

"(Evanston) is long and extends from the zone very well," said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose. "We don't see a lot of zones up in our conference and with as athletic and quick as Evanston is it makes it that much tougher."