Wheeling over-powered by Glenbrook North

Glenbrook N. 65, Wheeling 44

Senior guard Alex Dragicevich led Glenbrook North with 22 points, and Conner Nass and Jordan Schmidt provided some timely assists as the Spartans beat Wheeling 65-44 in the first round of the Niles West tournament.

"What leads you up to the success we had today is the great practices we have," said Dragicevich. "We have a great group of guys that have a great chemistry. We take our summer leagues real serious, and it's mandatory we play."

The Wildcats came in with remnants of cobwebs as the Spartans made multiple unanswered scoring runs. The scoreboard read 23-4 at the end of the first quarter, as the Wildcats received 3 traveling calls and saw center Robert Carter and forward Ryan Fallon get into foul trouble.

"We started off the season playing a really good team," said Wildcats coach Lou Wool. "We came out of the gate a little shell-shocked because of the first quarter. Besides that we came into our own. We're going to build from this game."

"We worked hard at penetrating the lane," said Spartans coach Dave Weber. "We moved the ball well and we forced some turnovers out of it for the first game. The kids stepped up, having two injured starters; we have depth (senior forward Tyler Ponticelli and junior forward Austin Weber). The pressure made them have to shoot outside and they did hit a couple of 3s. They have some good pieces to that team."