Driscoll uses size to defeat Montini

There's no questioning the heart of Montini's boys basketball team.

Trouble is the Broncos' hearts only come up to the waist of guys like Driscoll's 6-foot-7 Matt Kaban and 6-6 Austin Baker.

When Driscoll neutralized their Suburban Catholic Conference rivals' scrappy defense and utilized Kaban's height in the post Friday night, the Highlanders beat their hosts 41-33 in Lombard.

Driscoll (7-6, 2-2) trailed 22-21 at halftime with Kaban in and out of the action. Out of the locker room he scored 9 straight points during an 11-0 Driscoll run that gave the Highlanders the lead for good.

"Our modus operandi is full-court pressure, and to do that for 32 minutes you have to sub guys," said Driscoll coach Adam Szyszko. "He had a hot hand in the second half. We were gonna ride him."

Montini players such as 5-9 David Kelly and Gray Grzywack and 6-0 sparkplug Anthony Blashewski all had their cracks at Kaban when the Broncos were in man-to-man defense.

They probably could have ridden Kaban, who led all players with 18 points and 10 rebounds, 9 in the second half. Baker added 4 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and a breakaway dunk.

"They were working it down low because they've got a 6-6, 6-7 kid and 6-1 is our tallest. It's hard to match up - you try to play help-side," said Blashewski, who scored 12 points with 9 rebounds and 3 steals.

Blashewski, Grzywack, Zach Brash, Jordan Werner and Mike Kulczycki all had steals in a first quarter Montini finished on an 8-0 run to lead 14-9.

"We knew they've been playing better," Kaban said. "We've been scouting them ever since we played them back in Lisle (a 59-39 Driscoll win), and we noticed that they've been playing better. So we knew we had to prepare a lot better for them."

The Highlanders' intensity eventually matched that of Montini over the second and third quarters. When Montini stormed to an 8-0 run to get within 34-32 at 6:37 of the fourth - using back-to-back 3s by Blashewski and Werner - Driscoll countered with a 7-0 streak featuring Steven Schwabe's three-point play and a Kaban baseline drive.

Montini fell to 1-11 and 1-5 in the SCC, but only solidified coach Brian Opoka's positive opinion.

"A lot of other teams in our situation would not have shown as much resolve as this group," he said. "They go at it, and I'm so proud of them."