Addison Trail turns away Willowbrook
An emotionally charged Willowbrook team came out focused on senior night and was leading Addison Trail by a point in the second quarter before the wheels fell off Friday night in Villa Park.
The Blazers used a 13-3 run to end the first half to catapult them to a 77-59 West Suburban Gold victory.
Willowbrook (1-23, 0-11) asserted its size advantage down low, as energetic sophomore forward Kyle Pullia put in 9 first-quarter points to lead the Warriors. Willowbrook trailed 11-5 just over five minutes into the game, but a spirited timeout by coach John Constable sparked the Warriors to an 8-0 run, and the teams were tied 13-13 after one quarter.
Pullia and junior center Ryan Rader continued to have their way in the paint in the second quarter as Willowbrook led 25-24 with three minutes left in the opening half. Pullia poured in 16 points and 6 rebounds in the first half, while Rader had 5 points and 9 rebounds.
“We had a good inside game, our focus was real high and we had a lot of energy,” Pullia said. “It was senior night and we only had one senior (Rob Nystrom) stick with us for the whole season, so we wanted to win it for him.”
However Addison Trail (8-16, 2-9) found its groove and assumed control of the game at the 3:00 mark of the second quarter. Freshman guard James Pupillo, senior guard Armin Trgo and junior guard Vince Beltrano sparked the Blazers on a 13-3 run to end the first half, which gave Addison Trail a 37-28 lead at the half.
“We started to play really good defense and that sparked our offense,” Pupillo said. “We got confidence and we started to move the ball well and play as a team.”
The Blazers blew the game open in the third quarter as they outscored the Warriors 28-13 en route to an insurmountable 24-point lead after three periods, as they limited Pullia to 2 points in the second half.
“Pullia was killing us in the first half, he was outworking us down low and getting second chances,” Addison Trail coach Brendan Lyons said. “I challenged our big guys to defend and we also needed to put more pressure on their guards, because when you pressure the guards you get turnovers. John is a good friend of mine and worked with me at Addison Trail for a year and I knew how he was going to approach the game. They had that look in their eyes early and when a team has nothing to lose, it’s very dangerous.”
Pupillo echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“The first half we struggled boxing out and putting pressure on them,” Pupillo said. “Then we got our big guys to box out and offensively we started to slip screens and get looks.”
Pupillo finished with a team-high 15 points, while Trgo chipped in with 13 and Beltrano with 12 points to lead the Blazers to the conference victory, while Rader registered 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double in a losing effort for Willowbrook.