BG's system delivers tournament triumph

By Howard Schlossberg

With a lot of interchangeable parts and versatile players, Buffalo Grove can hit you with a lot of different designs on both ends of the basketball court.

That's just what they did Saturday night to Stevenson in a 53-44 win at BG that sealed the Bison Classic tournament title for themselves. They overcame Stevenson's height and depth with ever-changing defensive schemes fueled by energetic intensity to move to 4-0.

"Intensity and our speed on defense. That's what we've been doing all tournament," said Bison Classic MVP Kevin Mulligan.

"We wanted to get out and pressure their passes into the post," to offset Stevenson's height advantage, said BG coach Ryan O'Connor.

And the Bison found ways to do it. Every time Stevenson made a run at BG, the Bison switched defensive alignments to throw them off.

"They were starting to throw the ball over the top of us," said O'Connor.

"They went a little bit zone and took away a few things," said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose, whose team always seems to battle cross-town rival BG in the Saturday night finale of this event with the tourney title on the line.

BG's intensity and speed on defense translated into opportunity points on offense. The Bison got just enough perimeter shooting from James Hurley (8 points) and Dan Wichmann (12), coupled with outstanding free throw shooting from Wichmann, Mike Cornely (7 points) and John Angotti (game-high 14 off the bench) to stem every Stevenson charge.

"We're a deep team," said Mulligan.

Stevenson (3-1) couldn't make BG pay for taking away some of their inside game with any consistent perimeter shooting, hitting just 2-of-11 on 3-pointers. Inside towers Jeff Arenson (13 points) and Grant Johnson (9) consistently led Stevenson rallies, but couldn't sustain them. BG ran out to a 30-19 halftime lead by forcing turnovers and scoring 10 straight points to open the second quarter on 3s by Wichmann and Hurley, a jumper by Angotti and a putback by Andrew Cohler. Stevenson never got closer than 5 again.

"They stuck it to us from the start," said Ambrose. "We knew they were going to come out hard. Maybe this will motivate us in practice."

BG is thinking the same thing. "Hopefully, we'll come out and win that (first Mid-Suburban East game)," against Wheeling on Friday, said Mulligan.