West Chicago gets inside-outside game clicking
The inside is so much sweeter when accompanied by the outside.
West Chicago's boys basketball team enjoyed plenty of both in Tuesday's 66-53 nonconference win at Addison Trail.
Six-foot-six junior Tyler Griffith scored a team-high 16 points and 6-5 Ryan Karg added 8 points off the bench. Tony Quarto, meanwhile, knocked down all four of the team's 3-pointers while tallying 14 points.
It's the combination West Chicago (4-5) longs for every time on the court. On Tuesday - when the Wildcats posted their highest point total of the season - it all came together.
"We just want to swing the ball on offense, punch it inside, and if they double we'll kick it out for the open shot," Quarto said. "It was a lot of fun playing out there. Everything was clicking."
West Chicago never trailed after scoring the game's first 5 points - all from Griffith, who scored 7 first-quarter points. The Wildcats extended their lead in the second quarter, even with Griffith on the bench with two fouls.
That's when Karg stepped up with all 8 of his points, burying the Blazers (2-5) in a 14-point halftime deficit.
"We played so soft, had no enthusiasm in the first half," said Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons. "We were kind of embarrassed in the first half. We needed to get some of our pride back."
Addison Trail hadn't planned on pressing defensively but had little choice in the second half while trying to rally. The Blazers dented the lead in spurts, narrowing the gap to 10 points twice in the fourth quarter.
Ian Horvath scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, 9 points coming in the third quarter. West Chicago, however, kept the margin in double digits the entire half.
"We were patient and had the nice inside-outside going," said Wildcats coach Kevin Gimre, whose team broke a two-game losing streak. "We had a lot of different people step up and do some nice things."
Chad Driscoll and Jeff Robinson each added 8 points for the Wildcats. Adam Grow scored 10 points off the bench for Addison Trail.
"We've been working pretty hard in practice," Griffith said. "Coming off a couple of losses, we were itching for a win."