Wheaton Academy 52, Manley 43

Wheaton Academy sophomore Tim Rusthoven's 6-foot-8 frame came in all sorts of handy for the Warriors on Wednesday night in their Class 3A boys basketball regional matchup against Manley.

Not only did Rusthoven's height help him get his 25 points and 16 rebounds, it also allowed Wheaton Academy a lengthy safety valve for its press break attack, which ran fluidly all game and contributed to the Warriors' 52-43 victory at Chicago's Marshall High School.

Wheaton Academy (17-9) expected the athletic, full-court pressure it saw from Manley, and come game time the Warriors were prepared.

"Obviously, they play a little different style than we're used to, with a lot of pressure and a lot of full-court (press)," Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson said. "We did a nice job of dribbling the ball up the middle, passing out to the wings … and I thought our guys played a really smart, under-control game for us.

"It helps with Timmy being 6-8 in the middle; he can alleviate a lot of the pressure and kick it up court."

Wheaton Academy headed into halftime trailing 25-22, yet turned things around immediately at the outset of the third quarter. The Warriors ran up a quick 8-0 run on Manley, wresting control of the game's momentum.

"That was huge. If we come out and go down 5 or 7 (points), with their pressure, you start pushing a little bit and you start turning it over," Ferguson said. "It took us about a half to adjust to the tempo of the game and their quickness and athleticism.

"We really didn't do anything special; we just continued to work on the things we had in preparing for this game."

Manley cut the Warriors' lead to 36-33 at the end of three quarters, but that was as close as the Wildcats would come. A Rusthoven jump shot from just outside the free-throw line gave Wheaton Academy a 41-33 lead with 6:20 remaining in the game, and his layup with 1:11 on the clock put the Warriors ahead 51-41.

"They just left the middle wide open, so I tried to get it there any way, either kick it out, or if I had it just go in or try to get it to the post," Rusthoven said of his offensive attack.

With Wednesday night's victory the Warriors earned a date tonight against Marshall, ranked No. 1 in the state.

"I'm not even sure what to expect, but I'm assuming a lot of fast, hard, good basketball," Rusthoven said. "Hopefully, we'll step up to it."