St. Charles East's complete game too much for Willowbrook
Eric Miller entered Tuesday's game at St. Charles East so hot the Saints turned their entire defensive attention to Willowbrook's senior guard.
The focus worked, with Charlie Fisher doing most of the chasing in the Saints' box-and-one. Miller, who scored 58 points in his past two games, was held to 8 in St. Charles East's 62-47 victory.
The Saints (3-5) led from the middle of the first quarter on, with starters Jess Striedl (19 points), Drew Vazquez (11) and Zack Burns (10) all scoring in double figures.
It was Fisher's defense, though, that earned him the game ball.
"We frustrated the heck out of him (Miller)," Saints coach Brian Clodi said. "We told Charlie don't worry about scoring, we said the only job is that kid can't get touches. (Charlie) was fighting through screens, chasing him all over. Charlie did a great job frustrating him."
Willowbrook (4-5) knew the gimmick defenses were coming. Warriors coach Tim Lavorato said while they have worked on attacking a box-and-one about 10 minutes each practice, this was the first time they have seen that defense in a game.
"They (St. Charles East) were prepared well," Lavorato said. "We kind of expected something like that. Obviously it is hard to simulate stuff in practice. I thought they did a nice job of using that defense to get us out of sync a little bit.
"Miller has to learn where the openings are. He did a nice job hanging in there. More teams are going to play him like that."
Miller made one of his two 3-pointers to put the Warriors ahead 6-4. A Vazquez layup and Striedl's 3-pointer put the Saints ahead to stay, 9-6, in a game Clodi called their best this season, which includes a win over St. Joseph.
"We wrote on the board 32 minutes," Clodi said. "We said it has to be a focus for 32 minutes, Saints basketball a possession at a time. I thought our team played about as good as we can play."
St. Charles East extended its lead to as many as 12 points in the second quarter. The Saints nailed five of their first six 3-pointers to build the lead, then missed their final five attempts of the second quarter, helping the Warriors trim a 25-13 deficit to 27-26 at halftime.
St. Charles East quickly pushed the lead back out in the third quarter. Freshman Kendall Stephens came off the bench to drain a pair of 3-pointers, helping the Saints to a 44-37 cushion entering the fourth quarter.
Willowbrook never got closer than 7 in the fourth quarter. Leading 48-40 with 3:50 remaining, Clodi called timeout and held the ball.
The Saints ran 1:37 off the clock before getting fouled. After going just 2 of 13 from the line in the fourth quarter and overtime in a loss to Streamwood Friday, St. Charles East responded by sinking 10 of 13 in the final 2:13 to push the final margin to 15 points.
"We closed them out. We said we are strong with the ball, we have an 8-point lead, we don't need any more shots," Clodi said. "We just shortened it up and made great passes."
Striedl added 10 rebounds to go with his 19 points, the latest in a string of solid outings by the senior forward.
"We played together as a team and we haven't done that the past couple games," Striedl said. "Everyone knew their role tonight and they played how they should play at their position. Everyone played so hard tonight and I'm so proud of how everyone played."
Graham Olatunji led the Warriors with 18 points. Jymell Lawson came off the bench with 11.
Willowbrook shot 32.6 percent from the field (15 of 46) while the Saints made 21 of 41 (51.2 percent), including 9 of 20 on 3-pointers.
"We didn't match their energy at the start of the game," Lavorato said. "We knew they were going to bomb from all over. I thought the problem was us giving up the dribble-drive."