St. Charles East youngsters give Proviso East a battle
St. Charles East gave its fans a glimpse of both the present and the future in its season opener at their 51st annual Thanksgiving tournament, and both looked pretty promising.
Though the Saints fell 71-62 to Proviso East, coach Brian Clodi found plenty of reasons to like what he saw.
"It's a great opening night," Clodi said. "You look where we got our points, we got a sophomore with 14, a freshman with 12 and a junior with 10. These guys played with those guys (Proviso East). At times we matched everything they have."
The sophomore is Charlie Fisher, who started at point and hit 6 of his 8 shots to score a team-high 14 points.
The freshman is Kendall Stephens, a lanky 6-foot-2 guard who came off the bench to score his first points on an alley-oop lay-in in the first quarter. He went on to knock down a couple 3-pointers and score 12 points.
The junior is Spencer Motley who scored 10 points to go with 3 steals.
"They are up for a reason and proved it tonight," Clodi said.
None of them didn't have an easy way to break in, going up against Proviso East and its pressure defense.
"It was exciting," Fisher said. "I had the jitters in the beginning but after playing I settled down and got to business. You have to realize the game comes at you fast and suck it up and do what you have to do."
St. Charles East's only lead came 24 seconds into the second quarter when Dan Ditusa banked in a 3-pointer, capping a 7-0 spurt that put the Saints ahead 20-19.
As it did much of the first half, Proviso East (1-0) looked like it was about to break the game open, going up 31-22 on a putback basket by Will Crowder. The Saints came up with the plays to keep the game close, this time scoring the final six points of the first half (four by Zack Burns) to make it a 31-28 game at halftime.
"We ran with them, they just beat us on the boards," Fisher said. "We have to box out way better. Otherwise offensive-wise, defensive-wise we did pretty good."
Proviso East gradually extended its lead throughout the second half, leading 52-41 after three quarters. The Saints quickly fell behind by 16 in the fourth quarter, and the closest they got was the final score when Stephens hit a 3-pointer and Derek Weber a jumper in the final minute.
"We were excited about the way we played," Clodi said. "They are so athletic they are going to have that run."
Proviso East outrebounded the Saints by 14 which led to 11 more second-chance points.
"Rebounding comes down to heart and toughness," Clodi said. "When you play an athletic team like Proviso East you have to be the most physical when the shot goes up. It's got to be technique. If you make it a jumping game obviously we are going to lose that every time."
Drew Vazquez made a pair of 3-pointers and scored 8 points, Burns chipped in 7 and Ditusa came off the bench for a team-high 3 assists.
Trashaun Carroll led four Pirates in double figures with 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting.
Proviso East returns to St. Charles East today to play St. Charles North at 5 p.m., while the Saints close the night at 8 against Downers Grove South.