Downers Grove South gets even with Willowbrook

Maybe Downers Grove South's boys basketball team should exhaust itself more often.

Ending a grind of four games in eight days, the Mustangs notched their fifth straight win with a 64-37 rout of Willowbrook in Saturday's West Suburban Gold matchup in Downers Grove.

After dropping a 58-55 decision in December at Willowbrook (7-14, 2-5), Downers South (13-7, 6-2) avenged it with authority.

"We were really motivated after we lost to them at their place," said Mustangs senior guard Mark Bentley. "We just really wanted to come out and make a statement, so we all had the same mindset and stayed committed to the defensive end."

Allowing single-digit quarters to an opponent isn't easy, but the Mustangs did it twice in the first half while building a 30-11 halftime lead.

Downers South wasn't exactly stunning on offense, but the defense more than made up for it. Willowbrook hit only 4 of 16 first-half shots and damaged itself further by missing 5 of 8 free throws.

For the game the Warriors were 8 of 20 from the line.

"You can't win if you can't score, and that's the bottom line," said Willowbrook coach Tim Lavorato. "I don't think they took us out of anything, I just think we missed some shots. I was disappointed with some decisions we made offensively, but more than anything we just couldn't hit a shot."

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Bentley and Otis Wilbut expanded the lead to 38-13 early in the third quarter. Willowbrook scored the next 7 points, but the Mustangs closed the period by scoring 8 straight points and started the fourth quarter with 5 more points to make the margin 53-22.

A 14-0 run by Willowbrook followed, but that still kept the deficit at 53-36.

Downers South was incredibly balanced offensively as 11 players scored. Millison led the way with 12 points while Bentley, Wilbut and Joey Biel scored 8 points apiece.

Eric Miller scored 13 points for Willowbrook and Graham Olatunji added 11 points and 7 rebounds.

"What a difference a couple of months have made," said Downers South coach Jay Baum, referring to his team's earlier loss to Willowbrook. "I thought our defense in the first half was phenomenal. I think it was important for us to jump on them."