Layoff benefits Wheaton Academy

Timothy Christian hadn't played in 10 days and Wheaton Academy five before meeting Tuesday at Glenbard West's 10th annual Holiday Classic.

Wheaton Academy returned slightly stronger, winning 58-46.

"Coach (Paul Ferguson) really stressed in the pregame talk, come out with a lot of energy because we had a five- or six-day layoff," said Warriors guard Lars Olson.

"Across the board I thought we had great defensive intensity, especially after having a layoff over Christmas Break," Ferguson said.

Timothy Christian made 14 of 50 shot attempts. Wheaton Academy (7-4) didn't shine at 16 of 49 but hit 20 of 25 free throws, 10 of 14 in the fourth quarter.

"You win a lot of games when you shoot 80 percent from the free-throw line," Ferguson noted.

Junior guard Danny Leach was the focus of Wheaton Academy's man-to-man defense. Drew Sandberg handled the task along with Cameron Harvey.

"That's who we wanted to stop," Sandberg said. "We were pressuring the passing lanes, the ball, everything."

Wheaton Academy enjoyed double-digit leads throughout the first three quarters before Timothy Christian (6-6) challenged. Rallying from a 46-33 deficit, the Trojans pulled within seven points on Leach's personal 6-0 run.

The Warriors moved it back to 52-41 on Collin Roy's 8-footer and free throws by Sandberg, Gordon Behr and Harvey, who scored a team-high 19 points.

"We weren't really knocking down shots in the first half at all," said Leach, who overcame a 1-of-9 first half by scoring a game-high 22 points. "And then when they started making their run again we kept bailing them out with fouls on their drives."

Fouled himself on a 3-point miss, Timothy's Connor VanderBrug converted all 3 free throws to trim the deficit to 52-44 with 2:27 to play. But while Olson paced 6-of-8 Warriors foul shooting, down the stretch Timothy managed only a Leach basket off Matt Robinson's steal.

"I was proud of the boys for fighting back," said Timothy coach Jack LeGrand. "We made a good run coming back. We just couldn't quite get over the hump to get it going."