Brust's big game tinged with sadness

It's not easy to score 40 points in a basketball game.

But it's even harder to lose a loved one.

Mundelein's Ben Brust set a career high in points -- and then found out that his grandmother had passed away after his team lost to Morton 103-88 in the Conference Challenge Classic at Loyola's Gentile Center on Sunday.

"I'm glad that he did it for himself because he's been struggling a lot lately," said Mundelein coach Richard Knar. "He played well for us, especially under the circumstances that he was dealing with.

"He was with his grandmother last night and today (before the game). He knew she was terminal but didn't know when she was going to pass. I guess right after the game we found out. That was the tough part of it."

Navjot Singh had 17 of his 20 points in the first half, and, combined with Brust's 16 first-half points, the Mustangs took a 40-40 tie into halftime.

It was a completely different game in the second half as Morton (18-3) opened the third quarter on a 27-9 run and finished the period up 72-58.

"They were getting past our denial on the press and it was leading to easy baskets and wide open shots," said Mundelein guard Kevin Blackowicz (14 points). "We just didn't have the intensity that we needed in the third quarter and it ended up hurting us."

Blackowicz and Brust combined for 7 straight points to cut Morton's lead to 72-63, but Morton responded with 6 straight points and kept Mundelein at bay for the rest of the game.

"It was a like a playground game," said Knar after his team committed 14 second-half turnovers. "We had no structure to what we were doing. That's why we were turning the ball over."

After a 16-5 start, Mundelein's confidence has taken a hit during its recent losing streak.

"Confidence-wise, we need a win," Knar said. "That's the bottom line. It's been five games in a row and six out of the last eight that we lost. We need a win to get our swagger back. When things get tough, we need to make things happen and we're not doing that right now."

Andy Rochon added 13 points for Mundelein (16-10).

Morton was led by Moises Quezada (29 points), Oscar Macias (28 points), Luke Scarlata (17 points), Joe Belcaster (14 points) and Juan Valdez (9 points).

Loyola 64, Buffalo Grove 56: A team can play the greatest defense in the world, but it doesn't really matter if they can't hold an opponent to 1 shot.

That was the case as Buffalo Grove (17-6) tried to overcome a 9-40 rebounding disadvantage before finally succumbing to Loyola Academy 64-56 at Loyola University's Gentile Center.

"It's tough when they get 4 or 5 shots every time," said Bison guard Chris Timberg. "They're probably the biggest team that we've faced. I think we can hold our own, but we just have to do a better job of boxing out. I'm sure we'll be focusing on that this week."

Although BG was getting crushed on the glass, the Bison somehow held a 31-28 lead at halftime.

How was that possible?

"That's a good question," said Bison coach Ryan O'Connor. "Unfortunately, I think it got even worse in the second half. I thought our defense was pretty solid really throughout the entire game. But it's just so hard because they have big guys and they have shooters. They're a very good team and when you give them multiple possessions you're going to have a hard time stopping them. It caught up to us in the second half."

Although O'Connor wasn't happy with his team's rebounding effort, he was pleased to see Timberg starting to look like himself on the court.

Timber, an all-Mid-Suburban League pick a year ago, was playing in just his fourth game of the season after sitting out with a fracture in his foot. He had a game-high 21 points on seven 3-pointers.

"Chris Timberg looked good," said O'Connor. "He's not only shooting the ball well -- he never lost that -- but he's starting to play defense and hopefully he can start rebounding a little bit for us as well."

Brian DeSimone had 13 points and 3 steals for BG, which got outscored 15-4 in the third quarter. The Bison closed the gap to 6 three times in the final three minutes before Loyola hit 6 free throws to close the game.

Now BG can focus on playing Hersey on Friday. With a victory, the Bison would win the Mid-Suburban East title and represent the division in the MSL championship game.

"Hersey has some very big kids as well, and this gives us a focus this week in practice on rebounding," O'Connor said. "If we can do a better job on the boards, defensively we're playing pretty well right now."