Aurora Christian gets best of Westminster
Westminster Christian coach Bruce Firchau, a member of the Illinois High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, uses bullet points written on the blackboard of a classroom to illustrate points of emphasis before home games.
Prior to Tuesday's nonconference game against Aurora Christian in Elgin, one such point of emphasis was second-chance points. The veteran coach told his team offensive rebounds would determine the outcome one way or the other.
"Well, they got the best of that one," Firchau said after Aurora Christian used 7 second-chance points during a 13-0 run at the end of the first half as a springboard to a 64-47 victory.
Though the Eagles outrebounded the Warriors just 32-31 overall, 3 offensive rebounds played a major part in turning the game in Aurora Christian's favor.
A tightly officiated contest resulted in Westminster Christian (11-7) reaching the bonus with 1:29 left in the first quarter, which helped the Warriors keep the game close. The lead changed hands eight times in the first half, the last flip-flop coming on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Jake Hanson, giving the Eagles a 16-15 lead with 6:27 left in the second quarter.
Hanson's free throws opened the 13-0 run, which sophomore forward C.J. Schutt and Dean Griffing furthered with putbacks. Another key play was an offensive rebound tapped out to the perimeter by Schutt. Hanson gathered the ball and drained a 3-pointer.
Aurora Christian (7-10) capped the run with a left-handed drive for a layup by freshman guard Ryan Suttle and a give-and-go basket by Griffing on a feed from sophomore Nick Marema, which upped the lead to 27-15 at the half.
"We were fighting hard and our shots weren't falling early," Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson said. "We had to adjust to the referees. We're used to a little more physical play. Rough housing is a little more acceptable in our league. Once we settled down and adjusted to the referees, we ran our offense, got some easy looks and converted."
Said Firchau: "That second quarter did us in. We didn't block out very well. They had 11 second-chance points against us and most of them were in the second quarter. I've been preaching to the choir, I think. We've been playing well, but we're still not blocking out as well as we should."
The Eagles outrebounded the Warriors 15-9 in the second quarter, paced by 8 boards from Griffing alone. The 6-foot-2 senior forward collected a double-double by the end of the first half and finished with game highs in points (15) and rebounds (13).
"They just started falling my way and I went after them," Griffing said of his rebound total. "Our defense really stepped up, started playing well and meshing together. We always have the issue of playing individually, but we came together and worked some long possessions to find the open man for open shots."
Trailing by 16 points early in the fourth quarter, Westminster guards Brandon Cork and Mark Graziano hit back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the deficit to 44-34 with 6:25 left. However, the Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to put the game away, backed by Marema's 3-pointer and baseline jump shot.
Marema finished with 12 points for the Eagles. Center Ian Dutcher led the Warriors with 15 points and 7 rebounds, and Ryan Beachler scored 8 of his 10 points in the first quarter for Westminster, which had its 5-game win streak snapped.