Watt hits the blocks for Hilltoppers
It's a natural, Chris Watt on the low block.
The Glenbard West senior threw plenty of blocks as an all-state lineman. His shots deep in the lane Friday on Hinsdale Central's basketball court also did damage.
Twice Watt came up big with offensive rebounds and baskets that helped lift the Hilltoppers to a 53-48 West Suburban Silver victory.
Watt has no grandiose illusions about his valuable role for Glenbard West (2-3, 1-0).
"Set screens and get some garbage points, I guess," he said after leading all scorers with 15 points.
Hilltoppers guard Dave McCaffrey took a late third- quarter charge, and with one second left in the quarter Watt's putback gave Glenbard West a 37-36 lead.
Hinsdale Central (1-3, 0-1) used a 10-4 run to tie 46-46 on Clay Foster's inside basket with 2:51 left to play. The ball, saved from going out of bounds by Jordan Williams, went to Ted Vernon to Abe Saleh for a no-look pass to Foster in seemingly a second's time.
Alex Thompson and Bryant Venson made single free throws to put the Hilltoppers back on top, but Saleh sunk 2 free throws to tie 48-48 with 1:30 remaining.
Watt grabbed another offensive board and went up strong for the 50-48 lead. Venson and Jud Anderson closed it out from the line. The Red Devils missed three 3-point attempts in the last minute.
"I counted about seven (Glenbard West) offensive boards in that fourth quarter," said Hinsdale Central coach Ed Lynch. "You can't really expect to win too many games if you give up seven offensive boards in the fourth quarter."
Vernon had all 8 of his points in a first quarter Hinsdale Central led 13-9. Watt's 3-pointer helped Glenbard West pull within 25-23 at the half.
"We came out aggressive, we came out trying to pressure the ball and we were up by two at halftime, which we were pretty happy about," said Foster, a former AAU teammate of Watt and Venson.
The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Foster led Hinsdale Central with 11 points; the high-energy Saleh added 10. Anderson scored 10 points for Glenbard West.
"Today I thought the kids just found their rhythm, not just offensively but defensively, getting some stops," said Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder. "Then kind of that same mentality carried over to the offensive end. We're going to be a grind-it-out team."