Waubonsie Valley scores 96 in win
The laughing, the joyful release of anxiety in the home locker room meant only one thing — Waubonsie Valley survived the Eisenhower experience.
Prevailing against the Cardinals’ frenetic, bombs-away offense, wholesale substitutions and nonstop full-court pressure, the Warriors on Wednesday made 41 of 68 shots to win 96-77 at their own Matt Laurich Christmas Classic.
Some crazy numbers: Eisenhower attempted 99 shots for the game, 52 from 3-point range and 47 inside the arc.
Eisenhower coach Mike Curta, a 1985 Naperville North graduate, changed out his entire lineup no less than 19 times to sustain the defense he demands.
Waubonsie Valley (9-3) responded by committing a stupefying 37 turnovers — yet by grabbing 62 rebounds and learning passing the ball downcourt and not dribbling was the way to go the Warriors owned a 12-point lead in the second quarter and pushed it to 19 with 5 minutes, 45 seconds left in the game.
“It was pretty fun. We got to play our game. No plays ran, but we played our game,” said Waubonsie guard Xavier Biles, who scored 12 points to join four other Warriors in double-figures. Jakobi Johnson and Brandon Malby scored 18 apiece and Bryan Jefferson had 10.
Tyler Edmondson led Waubonsie with 19 points and may have exhausted his repertoire of dunks off press-break passes from Johnson, Biles, Nick Lisauskas, Tyler Yanisch and Ravi Patel. The lefty flip. The right-handed tomahawk. The two-handed overhead monster jam. At least.
“We had to just keep our composure out there and just stay with it because they were going to keep on fighting back and throwing up crazy shots, and that’s what they do. We just had to keep on sticking with it,” Edmondson said.
Eisenhower (6-7) made only 12 of its 3-point attempts, but led by Tyrone Terrell’s 17 points was never boring. Curta’s system, which depends on rebounding 35 percent of its misses, is exciting for a reason.
“When I was at DePaul I was a student manager there, Loyola-Marymount was in their heyday,” Curta said. “I’ve always liked that style, and we just decided we have to do something for the community, the school, try to generate some excitement. And to be honest with you, you could give me any style you want, and Waubonsie would have beat us tonight.”
Curta bears a resemblance to the character, “Mayhem,” in current television commercials for an insurance company. Eisenhower creates just that, and at one point with Waubonsie’s lead cut to 53-46 early in the third quarter Warriors coach Steve Weemer took timeout and yelled, “Don’t touch the panic button!”
His boys listened, and will play Brooks for the tourney championship at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
“I’ve never experienced that style of play in my 17 years of coaching, and they haven’t obviously as players,” Weemer said. “It really was fun, but our guys really played the way we’re supposed to play against a team like that, and I was really, really proud of them. I couldn’t be happier right now. I really couldn’t.”