Stevenson stretches past Glenbard West

Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose has his team pegged pretty well as it heads into the stretch run of its 2009-10 regular-season schedule.

The Patriots aren't going to overwhelm their opponents offensively. But, as Ambrose noted, Stevenson will "slowly and surely" build a lead and keep it. And that was certainly the case during the Patriots' 63-41 nonconference victory over Glenbard West on Tuesday night in Glen Ellyn.

Stevenson held a 10-point advantage going into the fourth quarter, and then went on a 12-2 run to put the game out of reach, 54-34, with 4:14 remaining.

Nate Johnson and Kevin Earl each converted three-point plays during that run.

"We pretty much put our foot down defensively," said Johnson, who led the Patriots with 15 points. Overall, we just turned it up, not really turning the ball over and playing hard defense."

Glenbard West made the contest interesting early in the third quarter as sophomore Matt Mache scored 5 consecutive points, which pulled the Hilltoppers to within 4. However, the Patriots got out of trouble by going on a 5-0 run of their own and taking a 35-26 advantage.

Twin brother Mike Mache led the Hilltoppers with 16 points - 12 in the first half. Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder is hoping to get more consistent offensive contributions like Mike Mache's from other players on his squad in order to take some pressure off Tyler Warden, who had 13 points.

"We need to move the ball better and screen harder," Hoder said. "We need to do a better job fundamentally with our offense. We kind of rely on Tyler to bail us out a lot. I think if we do a better job screening and executing, we'll make things a bit easier for him instead of having him work so hard. He has to work awfully hard just to get a good look at the basket."

There's no rest for the weary. The Hilltoppers, who have been playing competitive basketball despite their 3-17 record, visit high-flying Lyons Twp. on Friday night. The West Suburban Conference Silver Division-leading Lions remain undefeated.

"They're playing really well, and Stevenson is playing really well right now, so we've got two tough teams back to back," Hoder said. "We'll give LT our best shot."

Meanwhile, the Patriots (15-6), who have won three straight and seven of their last eight, will be at Palatine on Saturday night.

"It's a nonconference game on the road," said Ambrose, who emptied his bench Tuesday night. "They're a team in our sectional, so it's very important for us to establish that we can go on the road in our sectional and beat a nonconference team. So we're looking forward to it.

"We're playing pretty good right now. We're coming together and really trying to refine our plays and our players. We're not creating anything new at this point in February. We're getting ready for the playoffs."