Waukegan defense stymies Stevenson, earns share of NSC title
A coach's work is never done sometimes.
After Waukegan put together an impressive all-around effort to beat Stevenson 67-55 on Wednesday, Bulldogs coach Ron Ashlaw held the ladder so every player and manager on his team could clip a piece of the net.
This victory meant Waukegan and Stevenson will share the North Suburban Conference title. After the game, both teams posed with a championship banner at Waukegan's historic fieldhouse.
“We want these guys to A) love their experience here, and B) we want to practice everything,” Ashlaw said of cutting down the next for a shared title. “There's a lot of power in that kind of vision.”
The story of this game was pretty simple. Waukegan's defense set the tone from the opening tip and forced a high number of turnovers. The Bulldogs lived in the passing lanes, blocked shots and had the Patriots flustered to the point where they had passes sailing out of bounds.
“Listen, they came out and smacked us in the mouth,” Stevenson coach Will Benson said. “They played really hard, they played really well. They're hard to beat at this place.”
Waukegan (21-7, 11-3) jumped to an early 11-2 lead and stayed in control. The Bulldogs led by 8 at halftime and 18 at the end of three quarters. Stevenson knocked down some 3-pointers and got within 59-52 with 3:45 left. The Patriots were one more 3-pointer from making things interesting, but Waukegan answered with its own run to put things away.
“Both sides of the ball, this is probably our best effort, our best execution, our best adherence to game plan of the year,” Ashlaw said. “We always have good stretches and we always have explosive moments, but from tip to buzzer, we were who we wanted to be tonight.”
The Bulldogs were led by 6-3 senior Xavi Granville with 19 points. He spent his first three years of high school at Grayslake Central, and has now won a conference title at both schools. Junior Simereon Carter added 15 points and junior point guard Carter Newsome had 13.
Granville was Mr. Efficient, hitting 9 of 11 shots, with no 3-point attempts. He was a perfect 6 for 6 in the second half.
“I'm not the type of guy to jack up 3s, said Granville, who went to elementary school in Waukegan. “I prefer catch-and-shoots, but that wasn't coming to me, so I had other lanes open up.
“In terms of how we've been playing so far, that was our peak, but that's nowhere near our real ceiling. We just had the extra motivation because we lost to this team and obviously conference is on the line. I think everybody came together.”
Waukegan is hosting a 4A sectional for the first time in a few years and is the top seed in its sub-sectional, with DeKalb No. 1 on the other side. The Bulldogs will play in the Libertyville regional next week.
Stevenson was led by 6-8 senior Atticus Richmond with 14 points, while going 4-for-6 from long range. Rocco Pagliocca had 12 points and 3 3s, while Liam Curtin scored 9.
The Patriots (20-10, 11-3) are the No. 3 seed in the Schaumburg sectional, will host a regional and face Wheeling next Wednesday in the first round.
“I just told them — 20-win season, 15 of our games have been against teams with 20 wins or more,” Benson said. “Even if we would have won this game tonight, we're still 0-0 tomorrow, just like everyone else.”