Stevenson 44, Vernon Hills 33

Sometimes a team just needs to know when to come in from the cold.

After Stevenson boys basketball coach Pat Ambrose watched his team shoot 3 of 15 from 3-point range in the first half against visiting Vernon Hills on Friday night, he changed strategy.

"We decided not to shoot as many 3s as we did," Ambrose said. "If we were going to have an 'off' game shooting-wise, we didn't think we would have one on our own court, but it happens.

"Then we had to dig in defensively and we made some adjustments at halftime. The kids did much better with it."

The adjustment indeed worked, as Stevenson came from an 9 point halftime deficit to defeat Vernon Hills 44-33 in a North Suburban Conference crossover.

Stevenson's Dylan Richter led all scorers with 14 points and had 3 steals. He also had 7 rebounds, as did teammate Dan Rebnord.

"Vernon Hills was playing a triangle-and-two (defense), which left us with a lot of open 3s, but they weren't falling in," Richter said. "In the second half, we went more inside and got some easy shots."

Vernon Hills built a 23-14 lead by halftime, but scored only 10 points the rest of the game.

Stevenson (12-6) shot 17 for 49 (35 percent), including 4 of 18 from long distance (22 percent).

Vernon Hills (9-9) started out with the hot hand, but made just 2 field goals in both the third and fourth quarters.

"Our cold spell was a little bit longer than theirs," Cougars coach Matt McCarty said. "Down the stretch, we had trouble with their pressure getting the ball up the court. They're a very good team. We just have to learn from it and be able to handle the pressure just a little bit better."

Stevenson's Jeff Levitt sank three 3s for 9 points and had 3 steals, while Kevin Stineman contributed 8 points and 5 assists.

Kenny Rideout led Vernon Hills with 9 points and 6 rebounds.

"We didn't come out with the same intensity that we did in the first half," Rideout said. "We also didn't hold on to the ball."

DeVaris Daniels finished with 8 points, fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Riaz Hoveydai and Chris Morgan scored 7 points apiece for the Cougars

Despite the game being a crossover, both coaches agreed that it was still an important one.

"We're two schools that are only a couple of minutes apart," McCarty said. "All of our kids know their kids and it's Lake Division vs. Prairie Division. So we wanted to come over to compete the best that we can against a good Lake team."