St. Viator finishes off Wheaton Academy

Wheaton Academy and St. Viator put their 4-0 boys basketball records on the line Friday night at Cahill Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.

The Lions’ Ore Arogundade, with some help from sophomore forward Jason Timmerhaus, thwarted the Warriors’ bid to stay unbeaten by pulling away to a 70-51 nonconference victory.

Arogundade scored 26 points and had four 3-pointers, and Timmerhaus had 7 of his 9 points in the fourth quarter.

“This week in practice we stressed getting out to a fast start,” said St. Viator coach Mike Howland. “We got up on top of them quickly.”

The Lions (5-0) roared out to a 21-7 lead after the first quarter with Orogundade scoring 8 points and Kevin Hammarlund (9 points) getting 7.

By halftime St.Viator led the Warriors 40-24 and seemed to be in control.

Wheaton stormed back in the third quarter to pull within 46-41 as Jake Cousins scored 8 of his team-high 15 points in that frame. Brandon Ruggles (10 points) hit 2 free throws with 7:31 left to make the score 46-43.

“We battled back in the third quarter,” said Wheaton coach Paul Ferguson. “They then made a run, and we just didn’t have enough firepower to come back.”

Arogundade started the decisive spurt a 3 pointer, which was followed by a corner 3 by Timmerhaus, who also hit 1 of 2 free throws and followed that with a 3-point play to make the score 56-43 with 4:14 left.

“Jason came up big for us in the fourth quarter,” said Howland. “He had some more minutes on the floor tonight and produced.”

Arogundade allso pulled down 9 rebounds and had 3 steals.

“We had good intensity to start the game and then it died down,” said Orogundade. “The fourth quarter we got the momenteum back and we kept our intensity. Basketball is a game of runs, and in the fourth quarter it was in our favor.”