St. Viator recovers to beat Fremd
One day after Naperville Central went on a 16-point run in the second half to hand St. Viator its first loss of the season, the Lions showed they are capable of their own fourth-quarter dominance on Thursday evening at Wheeling.
Trailing by a point after three quarters, the Lions opened the fourth on a 19-3 tear, propelling them to a 55-40 victory over Fremd at the Wildcat Hardwood Classic.
St. Viator (12-1) advances to the fifth-place game today at 3:45 p.m. against Prospect (6-5), a 58-47 winner over Lake Park (9-3).
Fremd (9-4) gets the chance to avenge a season-opening loss to the Lancers in the seventh-place game at 12:15 p.m.
“We did a better job tonight,” said St. Viator coach Mike Howland. “We know we aren’t the team we were last night. I love how we responded. We leaned on our defense, and our defense got it done all night.”
Sparking that defense was Mayo Arogundade and D.J. Morris. The backcourt duo each had steals that led to layups as the Lions turned a 32-31 deficit into a 40-32 lead two minutes into the fourth.
Viator really started clicking after Morris’ offensive rebound and kick out to Arogundade for a 3-pointer. Arogundade scored all 7 of his points in the fourth, and Morris tallied all 8 of his in that same span.
“I felt confident going out there,” Arogundade said. “I was open and in rhythm. It was a big momentum shift because after that, everyone started picking everyone else up. It was just a team game today.”
Kevin Walsh (16 points, 4 assists) scored 11 of the Lions’ first 13 points in helping build a 9-point lead midway through the first quarter.
But the Vikings responded as Riley Glassman, who scored all 9 of his points in the first quarter, kick-started a 9-0 run with a basket and a 3-pointer. The sophomore was unable to play in the second half, however, after a back injury sidelined him near the end of the second quarter.
Fremd coach Bob Widlowski was pleased with how Garrett Peters (7 points) stepped up in his absence by assuming ball-handling duties. Nate Serviss led the Vikings with 10 points.
“We battled throughout,” Widlowski said. “They got a lead on us early, and we came back. I thought we were in a good situation to extend our lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but we didn’t get stops.”
Arogundade’s 2 free throws with 1:24 left in the game gave Viator its biggest lead at 52-37, while younger brother Ore Arogundade (8 points, 7 rebounds) had 3 assists in the final eight minutes.
Howland also lauded the play of his bench as Hugh Masterson played big first-half minutes after Chris Myjak got in early foul trouble. Patrick Martin, along with Mayo Arogundade, stepped in during the second half.
“Mayo was our closer,” Howland said. “When he came in, the energy just went way up. I didn’t feel like our starters had the energy.
“We kept looking for guys on the bench to give us a lift, and Mayo sure provided it.”