Hungry St. Viator wants more at Wheeling

A lot of boys basketball teams would be ecstatic to have a 10-2 record.

Not St. Viator.

And the Lions' feelings were summed up by the way their 64-57 victory over Streamwood went in Monday's first round of Wheeling's 32nd annual Wildcat Hardwood Classic.

"It looks good, but the last 4 or 5 wins have felt like a loss," said Viator senior forward Richard McLoughlin, who had 15 points and 15 rebounds. "That's how I've felt and how Alan (senior point guard Aboona) has felt and it's not a good feeling.

"We know we have to play better and that's what we have to do."

The Lions hope to start in today's 8:45 p.m. quarterfinal against Stevenson (8-2), a 55-43 winner over Maine West.

Their start wasn't the problem as they tore out to a 27-11 lead nine seconds into the second quarter behind McLoughlin, Aboona (17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, 4 assists) and sophomore Chris Myjak (10 points, 7 rebounds).

Everything looked good as the Lions hit 12 of their first 19 shots.

Then they went stone cold and saw Streamwood (3-7), which plays Maine West at 2 p.m. today, get within 41-40 on a 3-pointer by sophomore Dalton Lundeen (11 points) and 44-42 with 6:44 left on a layup by Marcus Lewis (13 points).

"We started off pretty well and everything went down the drain from there," McLoughlin said as the Lions ended up shooting just 37 percent from the field (21-for-57).

"We lost our entire offense and we weren't able to make any of our shots."

Marcus Greene also scored 13 points as the Sabres switched from 1-3-1 to 2-3 zones. They got a big boost from Lundeen, Adam Acevedo, Robert Siwek and D.J. Mustari off the bench.

"We hung in there against another good team - but rebounding killed us tonight," said Streamwood coach Tim Jones of a 35-24 disadvantage. "We had our opportunities but I think their experience and poise paid off at the end."

Brendan King (9 points) hit a fading baseline 12-footer at the third-quarter buzzer.

A rebound basket by McLoughlin started an 8-point run where Jack Etchingham scored inside twice for a 52-42 lead with 4:41 remaining.

Streamwood never got closer than the final margin as Aboona went 8-for-10 on free throws in the fourth quarter and Viator finished 20-for-28.

"We picked it up defensively," said Viator coach Joe Majkowski, "and finally said we'd better get it going down here."

Which is how the Lions feel in general about how they're playing right now.