Lessons learned, Bartlett masters St. Viator

Bartlett's boys basketball basketball team learned some lessons at Jacobs' holiday tournament, where it finished with a 2-3 record.

"We didn't dwell on the losses, but used them to learn from," said Bartlett senior forward Jason Hasenberg. "We used the time after the tournament to talk about playing better together and using this game as a momentum-builder for 2016."

The Hawks broke quickly from the tip-off, scoring on eight of their first nine possessions in defeating host St. Viator Lions 68-54 Tuesday night in Cahill gymnasium.

The win boosted Bartlett over the .500 mark to a 7-6 record. The Lions, who had a successful Florida trip at 3-1 over the break, dropped to 9-3.

"You can't give up 20 points in the first quarter," said St. Viator coach Quin Hayes. "If you do, you are going to lose. Our defense is centered around stopping a transition game and we weren't ready to go. They beat us at our own game."

The Hawks used balanced scoring from their starting five to keep St. Viator's defense off balance for most of the game.

"We shared the ball and always seemed to find the open man," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "We stressed good team offense and defense. It was a great start to the second half of the season. It was a great win against a great team on their floor."

Tyler Pauletti, who led the Hawks with 17 points and played a good floor game according to Wolfsmith, broke a 12-all tie with a putback basket with 2:56 left in the first quarter. Bartlett never trailed after that point.

Robby Jimenez (14 points, 7 rebounds) scored 7 of Bartlett's 9 points in the second quarter to build a 29-21 lead after the first quarter.

Kevin Murphy's basket for St. Viator cut the gap to 31-25 with 6:20 left in the third quarter, but from that point Bartlett took over.

Hasenberg (9 points, 10 rebounds) hit for a 3, which was followed by a Pauletti basket. Those scores led to a 19-7 run that gave the Hawks a 50-32 lead going into the final quarter.

The Lions pulled off a 18-9 run to get back to 59-50 with 2:23 left in the game. Danny Walsh (12 points) had two 3-point baskets in the run.

Bartlett hit 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

"We just didn't have the energy tonight," said Walsh. "We got ourselves into a hole at the start of the game and couldn't get out of it."

Jake Stepuszek led the Lions with 16 points.

"We wanted that fast start," said Hasenberg. "We wanted to make them play at our pace instead of theirs. Our bigs played well, as did our bench."

"Hasenberg really played a good third quarter with his points and rebounds (5) - that helped us extend the lead," said Wolfsmith.

Brett Awalt scored 10 points and starting guard Ben Reyes added 9 points for the Hawks.