Rusthoven leads Wheaton Academy to big win

Wheaton Academy boys basketball coach Paul Ferguson was ready to call it a night for Tim Rusthoven.

The 6-foot-9 senior had just converted a three-point play on a one-handed slam and the Warriors led West Chicago 57-29 with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter.

Apparently, though, one of the officials wanted to see more from Rusthoven. This official disallowed a substitution after Rusthoven's free throw, Chris Lesner made a steal and point guard Quinn Gorski lobbed a beautiful alley-oop pass to Rusthoven, who hammered it home.

Then Rusthoven's night was over. The William & Mary recruit finished with 28 points to lead the Warriors to a 72-42 nonconference victory.

"People give me a hard time because I don't dunk too often," Rusthoven said. "That'll probably get a few guys off my back."

Wheaton Academy (17-1) knew the target was on its back and that West Chicago had nothing to lose, but the Warriors didn't hesitate to do the many things that have led to their great success.

"We got to practice in the Dean Dome this year and at the end of practice the manager of North Carolina handed me their practice plan," Ferguson said. "On top of it was the emphasis of the day, 'Satisfaction is death.' We've talked about that with our team. Don't be content with where you're at, and we saw this game as an opportunity for our team to get better."

West Chicago (2-17) kept the game close early in the first quarter before the Warriors quickly took over. The Wildcats led 9-8 a little more than midway through the opening quarter, but the Warriors outscored the Wildcats 12-2 to close it.

"We had a game plan, but we didn't execute it," West Chicago coach Kevin Baldus said. "I thought we'd come out and play a lot better. We still haven't played four quarters of basketball this season."

Rusthoven scored 13 of his points in the second quarter as the Warriors played unselfish, patient basketball.

"We shot the ball and a lot of that was because of high percentage shots," Ferguson said. "I thought that Luke Johnson really stepped up his play. He hit two 3s which I thought was really big."

Gorski took control of their attack, dishing out 7 assists, collecting 6 rebounds and snatching 4 steals.

"Our team plays so well together," Gorski said. "We have so many weapons and so many guys willing to step up."

The Warriors shot 59 percent from the field while the Wildcats only converted 37 percent of their attempts. Wheaton Academy had 11 players enter the scoring column.

Charles Jacques paced the Wildcats with 12 points.