Willowbrook rolls over Addison Trail
In the midst of a roller coaster season, sometimes you never know which team will show up on a given night.
Willowbrook's boys basketball team would love it if Saturday's group stuck around for a while.
A blistering start led to a dominant finish as the Warriors claimed a 74-53 West Suburban Gold Conference win over visiting District 88 rival Addison Trail.
Avenging a prior loss to the Blazers (6-16, 2-9), Willowbrook (11-11, 4-6) also broke a three-game losing streak that included Friday's tough one at Proviso East.
"We had a lot of energy because they beat us the first time we played them," said Warriors senior Kyler Market, who hit five 3-pointers while scoring a game-high 24 points. "We just wanted to come out and make a statement and prove we can play."
Willowbrook couldn't have started Saturday's game any better than it did.
The rivals traded baskets to start the night, but the Warriors rattled off 14 straight points from four different players - Market, Phillip Reid, Graham Olatunji and Coleman Lydon - to build a 16-2 lead. Even with a 10-3 run to close the quarter, Addison Trail never could recover.
"For some of our kids who played JV this morning, this is our third game in 24 hours and we cannot afford to give somebody that kind of lead to start a ballgame," said Blazers coach Brendan Lyons, whose team lost to Gold-leading Morton on Friday and played without three players due to injury.
"It's just physical fatigue when you're playing catchup the whole game," he said. "It's just breakdown after breakdown. We had no answer for them."
Market, Reid and Olatunji each broke down the Blazers in their own way. While Market was perfect from the perimeter, Reid was effective driving to the basket. Olatunji took full advantage of 4 offensive rebounds.
Reid tallied 19 points and Olatunji added 16 points and 6 boards. Reid, who on Friday broke the program record for steals in a season, added 5 against Addison Trail to give him 61.
It was a strong team effort after a shaky couple of weeks.
"We made some great decisions tonight, and that's what we've been preaching all year," said Warriors coach Tim Lavorato. "It's real choppy right now, to be honest. I think we've given some games away. But I think we're turning the corner in the right direction a little bit."
Ian Horvath and Alex Dimaris each scored 18 points for Addison Trail, which looks to break a four-game losing streak in Tuesday's game against Fenton.
Like everyone else - Willowbrook included - the Blazers are looking for some consistently good play as the playoffs approach.
"We're just trying to do some different things to get their legs back a little bit," Lyons said. "Everyone's kind of going through the same thing right now."
BOX SCORE
Willowbrook 74, Addison Trail 53
Addison Trail - Ramir 0 0-0 0, Turk 1 2-2 4, I. Horvath 6 5-5 18, Babica 0 0-0 0, Dimaris 5 7-10 18, T. Horvath 2 0-0 4, Addante 0 0-0 0, Diamond 0 0-0 0, Gibbs 2 4-4 9, Restivo 0 0-0 0, Mijares 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 18-21 53.
Willowbrook - Miller 1 0-0 2, Reid 7 4-5 19, Market 9 1-2 24, Olatunji 6 4-4 16, Lydon 2 0-0 5, Schmidt 1 0-0 2, Redmer 0 2-2 2, J. Jones 0 0-0 0, L. Jones 1 1-2 3, Lynch 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Tynan 0 0-2 0, Leisering 0 0-0 0, Hauppa 0 1-2 1, Lawson 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 13-19 74.
Addison Trail 12 6 19 16 -53
Willowbrook 19 16 18 21 -74
3-point baskets: AT: I. Horvath, Dimaris, Gibbs; W: Market 5, Reid, Lydon.
Fouled out: AT: Gibbs.