Rusthoven, Warriors hang tough against Aurora Christian

No matter how you try to defend Wheaton Academy's Tim Rusthoven, it seems like the 6-foot-8 center will always find a way to get his share of points.

Friday night against Aurora Christian proved no different, when Aurora Christian attempted to bully Rusthoven underneath with a physical presence.

The end result? Twenty-two points for Rusthoven and a 57-49 home victory for the Warriors.

Wheaton Academy (7-2, 2-0 Private School League) played as the more physical team all game, dominating the Eagles on the glass, including 17 offensive rebounds.

While Wheaton Academy's third-year varsity center helped buoy the home team to a 6-point halftime lead, Rusthoven's frontcourt counterpart Anthony Ritchie came up large as well, scoring eight points and grabbing 7 rebounds in the opening half.

"In our big wins he's had big games," Ferguson said of Ritchie. "He's a great athlete. He's aggressive, he's athletic, he gets on the glass, he finishes plays, he gets to the free-throw line. - He's just physical."

Wheaton Academy essentially won the game in the middle quarters, as the Warriors' defense limited Aurora Christian to a combined 15 points. The hounding Wheaton Academy defense also sent the Eagles to the free-throw line just six times, compared to the 21 attempts Wheaton Academy had.

"We held them to 33 percent shooting, so our defense was good," Ferguson said. "It wasn't our best defensive performance of the season, but I'll take 33 percent every day.

"We did a nice job of defending and not fouling them."

The Warriors opened a 49-30 advantage early in the fourth quarter before Ferguson elected to rest his starters. The Eagles (2-4, 0-1) made a brief run afterward, but the 19-point deficit proved too large to overcome - especially for a team that has trouble knocking down the outside shot.

"We're not a great shooting team. We try to hide that as much as we can, but people will figure that out," Eagles coach Marc Davidson said. "We feel if we can defend and rebound the way we're capable, we can compensate for that.

Wheaton Academy now faces a 17-day layoff before next seeing game action, presenting a different set of challenges for Rusthoven and company.

"We've all just got to stay in shape and work out," Rusthoven said. "We're going to open up the gym a little bit and just get a lot of lifts in and work out a lot."