Willowbrook can't stop Niles North junior

There are nights every season when a team, despite its efforts, must simply tip its cap to an opposing player or squad.

In a game that could have gone either way for the Willowbrook boys basketball team Tuesday night, the Warriors proved unable to slow down Niles North junior Abdel Nader, allowing the 6-foot-6 guard to score 42 points as Willowbrook dropped a 65-61 decision in Villa Park.

Nader scored at will on the Warriors (6-10), knocking down 15 of his 26 field-goal attempts and 11 of his 14 shots from the free-throw line. He recorded 22 of his team's 26 total first-half points.

"I don't even know what to say. He just overpowered us," Willowbrook senior Chris Lynch said. "I thought it was pretty bad defense on us."

"We did not compete on their best player," Warriors coach Tim Lavorato said. "We allowed a kid to score 42 points on us, which is an embarrassment."

Despite Nader's offensive dominance, Willowbrook's depth and team effort kept the home team in the mix until the final horn.

A C.J. Thornton 3-pointer with 2:38 remaining in the fourth quarter trimmed the Niles North advantage to 57-53. Graham Olatunji's layup with 1:08 to play pulled Willowbrook to within a single point of the visitors, but the Warriors could inch no closer.

"I thought we had some nice possessions in the fourth quarter," Lavorato said. "I thought the end of the game in the last two minutes was really good."

A pair of Nader free throws with 11 seconds remaining put the Vikings (6-8) ahead 65-57 before two Thornton free throws and an Olatunji layup capped the scoring.

"That was probably the best part of the game, in that nobody hung their head," Lavorato said. "Even though we got down - we had a chance to get a steal at the end and make it interesting."

Willowbrook led 28-26 at the half and owned a 6-point lead early in the third quarter before a hurried style of play and a lack of execution on both ends of the floor plunged the Warriors into a 43-39 deficit heading into the fourth.

"I think if we played that team tomorrow, we would beat them if we just executed the right way," Lynch said. "We were supposed to get it inside and we didn't do that; we settled for jump shots."

Lynch and Olatunji paced Willowbrook with 16 points each, while Thornton chipped in 13.