Maine West meets Buffalo Grove's challenge

Maine West was without point guards Julian Dones and his backup, Melvic Dusi, for Tuesday's nonconference boys basketball matchup against Buffalo Grove on Tuesday.

But the Warriors were not without determination, and Maine West coach John Bongiorno thought that might have been the difference in a 53-49 victory for his team.

"I'm just really proud of our kids," he said. "It wasn't shaping up all that well because of the players we were missing, but they met the challenge."

Senior guard Matt Acevedo led all scorers with 23 points, including a pair of 3s, for Maine West (5-15), and junior guard Marion Johnson had 17.

Jack Vaselaney and Hans Haller had 11 apiece for Buffalo Grove, and Colin Calcagno had 10.

The Bison kept it close by hitting five 3s in the fourth quarter. They finished with 9.

An 11-for-21 performance from Maine West at the foul line also helped prevent the Warriors from pulling away, but Bongiorno was pleased to see his young group pick up a win.

"I was looking at this the other day - our opponents had won something like 183 games and lost only 135," he said. "We've played a tough schedule."

It gets tougher on Friday, as the Warriors travel for a Central Suburban North contest against division leader Deerfield.