Arenson's 29 leads Pats; Mustangs' Brust hurt

Over the last two weeks, Stevenson and senior forward Jeff Arenson have worked on ways to get him the basketball.

On Saturday night, in the Patriots' first game of 2009, against North Suburban Lake Division foe Mundelein, they got their big man the ball early and often and the 6-foot-5 Arenson made the most of his chances.

Arenson scored a career-high 29 points and hauled in 10 rebounds to lead Stevenson to its fourth straight win, 65-53 over the visiting Mustangs.

"Over the past five days we have really worked on our offense against the Mundelein zone defense," Arenson said. "I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates for finding me and getting me the ball."

The loss for Mundelein may prove to be even more costly. Standout junior Ben Brust landed awkward after a sensational block on a layup attempt by Stevenson's Jeff Levitt. He came up limping on his right ankle, left the game before half and did not return.

"When I came down I didn't really feel that bad," said Brust, who left Stevenson in a walking boot on crutches. "I tried to walk on it and it didn't feel right."

Stevenson (7-5, 1-3) broke open a close game with a 15-3 run during the third quarter to take a 45-30 lead. The Patriots' defense aided the run by forcing 3 turnovers on the first four Mundelein possessions.

"Tonight was about turning the page and getting a good start in 2009," Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. "We knew that when (Brust didn't come back in the second half) that we still had to keep our focus on the task at hand and not get complacent."

Mundelein (9-9, 1-4) failed to fold.

Mustangs senior Aaron Metzger scored all 10 of his points in the second half and helped Mundelein pull within 50-43 with 3:59 to go. At that point, the game could have changed in the Mustangs' favor. Metzger stole the ball on the next possession and was headed for a breakaway. But a miss and subsequent fifth foul on Metzger ended the Mundelein run.

"He makes that bucket there and we get it to five and now we have a chance," Mundelein coach Dick Knar said. "When we were out in San Diego last week we learned how to get more guys involved without Ben on the floor and we need to learn when Ben is not out there to get better shots."

Nate Johnson added 9 points and 11 rebounds for Stevenson.

Ryan Sawvell led Mundelein with 11 points and Kevin Barber added 10 for the Mustangs, who saw their three-game winning streak end.