Boys basketball: Wheaton Academy offense comes around in time to advance to sectional final
Wednesday night at the Class 3A Hinsdale South sectional semifinal, Wheaton Academy didn’t score until 6-foot-5 junior Jackson Snider got a bucket with four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
The Warriors took a 2-point lead early in the second, but for most of the first half they couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end against Providence.
No worries for the Warriors, though, because they were playing lights out on the defensive end.
Wheaton Academy took a 14-13 lead into halftime, and after the break, the offense caught up with the defense.
Sophomore guard Tyler Anderson sank four consecutive 3s early in the third quarter, leading his team to a 21-point effort in the third period and a double-digit lead.
The Warriors shook off some anxious moments down the stretch to post a 46-40 win over the Celtics. They’ll return to Hinsdale South at 7 p.m. Friday to face archrival St. Francis for the sectional title.
“My coaches have a lot of confidence in me, and I have a lot of confidence in my teammates and myself,” Anderson said of his third-quarter barrage. “At halftime (my coaches) told me my shots were going to be open and I had to take those shots.
“That put a spark in me. I wanted to win this game for my team and my seniors.”
Anderson added that his squad was all in on coming out with a determined defensive effort.
“We knew (the Celtics) could shoot,” the sophomore said, “so we wanted to keep them off the 3-point line. I think we did a really good job defensively as a team.”
Warriors coach Daniel Smith said that the halftime chat in the locker room was all about “filling our young guys with confidence (for the second half).”
Two sophomores and a pair of juniors were in the starting lineup for Wheaton Academy Friday along with one senior, Donell Ausley Jr. The Warriors have just three seniors on the roster.
“I loved the way we were guarding tonight,” Smith added, “and I knew that the shots were going to fall because we’ve put in the work for six months. They finally fell, Tyler Anderson hit four big ones, and we just rode that wave.”
Wheaton Academy (20-12) triumphed despite playing without leading scorer Hayden Schroeder, whom Smith said missed the game due to injury.
“I’ve got to shout out our captain tonight, Jackson (Snider), who’s our anchor on the defensive end,” Smith said. “And Ray Rienow, a sophomore, was our rim protector. Those guys were locking down.”
The Warriors used the hot shooting of Anderson to open a 35-21 lead with 2:54 remaining in the third quarter.
They held that double-digit advantage most of the way, but Providence made a run at the end. The Celtics (10-20) cut the deficit to 44-40 with 15 seconds left.
Then Snider was fouled and calmly swished two free throws to seal the victory. Anderson finished with 13 points, all in the third quarter, while Snider had 9 and Ausley tallied 7.
“This was a perfect team effort,” Snider said. “I told my guys before the game it's all going to be on the defensive end. We knew the offense was going to come, and we executed on defense.”