Boys basketball: Wauconda rolls past Antioch
Wauconda set a trap for Antioch Wednesday.
Playing a trapping half court defense, host Wauconda forced nine turnovers in the first quarters. That enabled the Bulldogs to pull away early and roll to a 72-43 victory.
“We were great defensively,” Wauconda coach Ty Weidner said. “We were flying around the floor. We were able to trap and that was fantastic.”
Wauconda (3-2, 2-0), which is looking to bounce back from last season, put the clamps on the Sequoits early. Led by Alex Ortega, along with Tony Salemi, Cole Plucinski and Sebastian Klein on top, the Bulldogs were able to get Antioch out of its offense early.
“We just knew if we could speed them up, they wouldn’t want to handle the ball,” said Ortega, who was one of four players in double figures for the Bulldogs with 17 points.
“So that’s what we did. Our rotations are working real well. We are working real hard in practice on that.”
Using that defensive stand, Wauconda was able to distance themselves from Antioch (1-6, 0-2) in the first quarter. The Bulldogs forced 9 turnovers in that quarter and limited the Sequoits to 2-of-10 from the field.
While the defense was making its mark, the Bulldogs offense got rolling. With the game tied at two, Wauconda went on a 12-0 surge thanks to a pair of threes from Ortega and Plucinski to make it 14-2.
Wauconda increased its lead to 29-13 midway through the second quarter. Antioch then scored six unanswered points to close to 29-19 with 1:14 left in the half.
It appeared the Sequoits may have had some momentum heading to the half. But the Bulldogs came up with two steals, including one by Austin Carlsen, who proceeded to take it in for a jam. Wauconda scored the final six points off the quarter to take a 35-19 lead.
“Every conference game we take super serious,” said Carsten, who finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds. “We just need to play our best. There are only 14 conference games and it matters every game.”
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 7-2 run to open a 42-21 lead. Antioch never got closer than 18 from there.
“I still think we were a sloppy on offense,” Weidner said. “We need to execute a lot better. We had a lot of standing. The nice part is that we have some dynamic players who can win the battles.”
Salemi had a big night for the Bulldogs with his second double-double scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
“Being an all-around player, it helps getting my game going when I play defense,” Salemi said. “Our chemistry and our motivation is good. Last year was not a good season. This year we are coming in with a better mindset knowing that our chemistry is growing.”
Leo Brinias finished with 12 points for Wauconda while Plucinski had six points.
Antioch was led by Miles Mirabella, who had 13 points. Chance Parsons had 8 points and Mark Render 6 points.
“We are really young this year,” Antioch coach Sean Connor said, “So, our seniors are trying to lead our freshmen and sophomores. What it comes down to is that we are still learning to play with poise. Wauconda did a nice job of speeding things up and we didn’t handle it well tonight.”