Lisle falters against Romeoville
Sports can be maddening. A day can divide one of a team's best games from one of its worst.
Facing a half-court trap Lisle committed 27 turnovers in Romeoville's 58-48 Small School Consolation Championship victory Tuesday at the 32nd annual Lemont Christmas Classic.
"The trap pretty much messed us up," said Lisle center Phil Palicka, who scored 12 points with 7 rebounds. "We had a lot of passing turnovers, a lot of fumbles, and we weren't holding on to the ball when we should have."
On Monday Lisle made only 11 turnovers to beat Lemont's man-to-man defense. The disparity drew an unintended rhyme from Lions coach Mark LaScala.
"A completely different style of basketball today unfortunately brought out some poor play," he said.
"I think the more turnovers we committed the more hesitant we became and made the situation worse," said LaScala, whose Lions (6-8) play 7-5 Reavis at 10 a.m. Wednesday for third place in Lemont's consolation bracket.
"Yeah, I think (it's) 27 shots you don't get and I'd say at least eight of those 27 led to layups for them. It's hard to defend layups."
Miscues aside Lisle led 16-15 after a quarter and 27-26 at halftime. Palicka and the Lions' Marcus Wilson headed a 12-8 first-half rebounding advantage. Guard Michael Reeves made each of his 4 first-half shots including two 3s for all his 10 points, to lead Lisle's 12-of-17 first-half shooting. In the second half Lisle went 9 of 20.
Lisle center Chris Wray sat with a sprained ankle and Romeoville (5-7) lacked suspended personnel after a Monday melee against Walther Lutheran. With Nate Washington and Antwan Hill atop the trap the Spartans remained in position.
"I just was proud of the guys, the way they came back today and played," said Romeoville coach Jeff Bambule.
Aided by 3 Lisle turnovers and Kordel Smith's breakaway dunk, Romeoville edged ahead 37-33 in the third quarter.
Wilson reassumed control. The senior guard scored off his own steal, hit a 3 off a Ryan Liss steal, and converted a three-point play with 14.8 seconds left in the third to give the Lions their last lead, 41-40.
Donte Fuller drove for a 42-41 Romeoville lead entering the fourth, and the Spartans went up 50-43 with 4:22 to play.
A Palicka putback had Lisle within 50-46 with two minutes left but Romeoville forced 3 turnovers to quiet the rally.
Wilson's 23 points led all scorers. Fuller led Romeoville with 16 points.
"We come off our best game of the year yesterday," LaScala said, "so it's the ups and downs of high school basketball."