Bartlett too much for St. Edward

Bartlett's starting lineup overpowered St. Edward in a 72-40 victory at the Jacobs Holiday Tournament Monday.

The Bartlett reserves weren't bad either.

Starting forwards Femi Oyewole and Lorenzo Mitchell and guards Lance Whitaker, Matt Chaltin and David Greiter burst from the gate to take an 11-0 lead, keyed by 5 points from Oyewole.

Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith began substituting liberally at that point, and the Green Wave outscored the Hawks 14-6 to pull within a 3-point shot two minutes into the second quarter.

But when Bartlett's starting lineup returned to the floor shortly thereafter and turned up the defensive pressure, the Hawks closed the half on an 18-7 run to take a 35-21 lead.

Those same Bartlett starters opened the second half on a 14-0 run against St. Edward's zone defense to elongate the lead to 51-21 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.

"We came out after halftime anxious to get that same energy we started the game with," said Bartlett sophomore Whitaker, who finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot in limited action. "We came out and got off to a big lead, so we were able to coast for the most part.

"Sometimes we just need to wake up and play the way we know we can play. We gave them a heartbeat at the end of the first quarter, so we had to end it right away before we got into trouble."

Chaltin led the Hawks with 19 points on the strength of five 3-pointers. He spent time in a gym Sunday practicing his shot in an attempt to improve his consistency.

"I was struggling a little bit the last week, but I had a good workout (Sunday)," Chaltin said. "I felt really good. Then the guys off the bench came in and played great defense. It was a team effort today."

Bartlett's reserves outscored the St. Edward bench 24-10, led by junior Ryan Roszkowiak (7 points), Chris Banks (6 points) and Jalen Gardner (5 points).

Playing the Hawks tough in the first half was taken as a sign of improvement by St. Edward, which was blown out by 29 points by Cary-Grove Saturday in a lackluster showing.

"We played about a quarter and two thirds, and then we started letting it get away from us a little bit," St. Edward coach P.J. White said. "But it was a better effort than we had Saturday. We improved from one game to the next. If we keep doing that, we'll be fine."

Guard Michael Ellis led St. Edward (3-6) with 14 points while forward Ben Lehman added 10 points and 6 rebounds. The Green Wave wrap up pool play against Crystal Lake Central today at 3 p.m.

Bartlett (7-5) won for the fourth time in five outings. The Hawks can win their pool with a victory over Cary-Grove today at 6 p.m.