Buffalo Grove turns back improved Wheeling
While Buffalo Grove and Wheeling are gearing up to be the best spoilers they can be as the postseason approaches, other teams might want to pay attention to them now.
They showed why Saturday night in a hard-fought 57-52 BG win at Wheeling in a Mid-Suburban East boys basketball game that could’ve gone either way.
BG (6-12, 2-4) jumped out to an 18-3 lead midway through the first quarter and appeared on its way to a repeat of the 42-point pasting they administered to the Cats (1-17, 1-5) in their prior meeting.
But the Bison wound up having to scramble for their lives. They did so, as high-scorer Alex Fritz (15 points) noted, by “pulling together as a team. It’s all about team play.”
That cooperative, cumulative effort is what Fritz believes is the difference between BG reversing its record.
After the game suddenly became a see-saw affair down the stretch in the fourth quarter, BG’s defense made the difference.
The teams swapped the lead six times from the third quarter into the fourth. BG closed it out though with big man Sam Wacker (9 points) altering shots around the basket against the hard-working Cats while Fritz, Rich Zirngibl (8 points), Luke Potnick and Andrew Apel (12 points) forced turnovers and Zirngibl, Fritz, Potnick and Wacker made just enough free throws.
“Buffalo Grove made some plays inside,” Wildcat coach John Clancy said of his alma mater.
“We’ve been in this position quite a few times,” said BG coach Ryan O’Connor. “Tonight we had guys step up.”
So did Wheeling. Jeremy Stephani (17 points) put on his usual long-range show with five 3-pointers. That sparked teammates Charlie Kirk (15), Chris Pierro, Kevin Leska and Brandon Yacu to turn things up a notch on both ends.
BG subsequently wound up scoring fewer points in the second and third quarters combined (20) than it did in the first quarter alone (22).
“He started to get some 3s,” Fritz, who hit 3 himself, noted of Stephani.
But BG put it away when Zirngibl, Fritz and Potnick all hit free throws after defensive stops.
“It’s a testament to the character of these guys,” Clancy said of the rally his team engineered.
Wheeling continued to work hard and looked impressive on a night when the school added athletic legends Dean Manus and Jeff Vanyek, athletic administrator Evelyn Mendrella and former gymnastics coach Dave Watters to its Athletic Hall of Fame. They are all role-model winners Wheeling could stand to observe.
“We’re not used to winning,” said Clancy.