WW South sweeps season series with Wheaton North
It may not have been as easy as the first time, but it tasted just as sweet.
Wheaton Warrenville South's boys basketball team struggled to shake its crosstown rival but dominated the final three minutes while pulling away to a 65-55 DuPage Valley Conference win at Wheaton North.
The Tigers (16-7, 7-4) earned a sweep of the regular-season series with Wheaton North (8-14, 3-8) for a second straight year, but Friday's game was a far cry from the 65-37 blowout on Jan. 8.
"It was a dogfight," said WW South coach Mike Healy. "I really felt like they had control of the tempo of the game. Our kids kept hanging in there, hanging in there, hanging in there until we got it back."
After Wheaton North took a 42-39 lead at the start of the fourth quarter on Richard Finley's steal and basket, the action seesawed until Nick Barry's basket pulled the Falcons within 53-52 with 3 minutes, 25 seconds left.
The Tigers - specifically, junior guard Reilly O'Toole - took over from there. O'Toole converted a three-point play and then hit 5 of 6 free throws to boost WW South's lead to 61-52 with 37 seconds left.
O'Toole played a masterful floor game. He knocked down 18 of 21 free throws while scoring a game-high 24 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds and dished 8 assists.
Playing without four-year varsity member Derek Babb, who had his appendix removed Sunday, O'Toole and others had to fill the void of their senior leader.
"With Derek out, he's such a great player and he does so much for us," O'Toole said. "It's a big blow when we don't have him, and I had to step up and get some rebounds. Everyone else did a great job boxing out, I just went in there and grabbed the ball."
The Falcons hit nine 3-pointers and actually finished with more field goals than WW South. The huge difference came at the line where the Tigers made 26 of 30 attempts and Wheaton North was 0 of 2 from the line.
Jordan Wayhart led the charge for the Falcons, nailing five 3-pointers and finishing with a team-high 19 points before fouling out in the final minute.
Nick Barry scored 12 points off the bench for Wheaton North while Jeff Schalk scored 10 points. Dolatowski scored all 18 of his points in the second half for the Tigers. Ryan Farrar added 11 points.
"We're improving," said Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos. "It's small steps at a time, but we're working to get there. The last three and a half minutes they just outplayed us."