Boys basketball: St. Viator dances past Carmel

Michael O’Keeffe coaches boys basketball at St. Viator, while his wife, Kacey, teaches dance at Carmel.

St. Viator visited Carmel for an East Suburban Catholic Conference boys basketball opener on Thursday night.

Guess who bopped their way to a 50-36 victory in Mundelein.

O’Keeffe’s Lions did, that’s who.

And they did most of their impressive boogieing on defense, limiting the Corsairs to 2 points in the first quarter and 19 through three quarters.

“Our kids truly love playing defense,” said O’Keeffe, whose squad played without injured top scorer Henry Marshall. “Credit them, who compete their tails off on defense, and our defensive coordinator, Gary Wolf.

“Defense is definitely our No. 1 strength as a team.”

No. 11 for Saint Viator, senior guard Brandyn Michaels, poured in 12 points, including a 3 that stretched the lead to 29-13 at 5:25 of the third quarter.

But he gushed about the Lions’ dandy “D” afterward.

“It brings energy to the game,” the 6-foot-1 Michaels said. “It messes up the flow of the opponent and makes things difficult. Defense — it’s our specialty.

“Coach Wolf,” he added, “is a mastermind. I'm telling you, he knows how to stop everybody.”

St. Viator (3-1, 1-0) double-majored in deflections and steals and minored in drawing offensive fouls against Carmel (0-6, 0-1), which produced a 7-2 spurt in the final quarter to make it 44-30 at 4:58.

But the hosts tallied only a pair of free throws and 2 field goals from there.

“We got completely ambushed by their traps,” said Corsairs first-year coach Mike Wasielewski. “And they did a good job of disrupting our passing lanes. We don't have a lot of experience, but we’ll be better next time and bounce back; it’s a resilient group.”

St. Viator led 8-2 after one quarter and 23-11 at halftime. Lions sophomore guard Dawson Charles opened the scoring with a 3 in the first minute and ended up tying Carmel senior Ethan Henderson (9 rebounds) for game-high scoring honors with 14 points.

The 6-2 Dawson netted 11 of the visitors’ 27 points in the second half and wound up draining a trio of 3s.

Henderson, an active 6-6 force, struck for 8 points in the final 8 minutes, authoring 5 of the Corsairs’ points in that 7-2 run midway through the fourth quarter.

St. Viator freshman Jacob Only scored a combined 7 points in the middle quarters and stood out defensively in a variety of ways, hustling to draw 2 offensive fouls, redirecting more than a handful of Carmel passes to transitioning teammates, and darting here and there to frustrate the Corsairs’ attempts to find a rhythm on offense.

“I remember competing with Jacob for the first time in the summer,” Michaels said. “I also remember thinking, ‘Yeah, he’ll help us.’ And he has. Here’s the thing about him: Jacob always plays with a lot of heart.”

Only grabbed a team-high 6 rebounds. Teammate Dayvion Ellis, a 6-0 senior guard, finished with 7 points and 3 boards, and Lions senior guard Jaylan Szlachetka contributed 6 points.

Junior Ethan Matz and freshman Tommy Hills scored 8 and 5 points, respectively, for Carmel.