Blazers put to rest bad memory against Warriors

Memories of a goose egg have been hounding Addison Trail's boys basketball team for a full year.

The Blazers smashed it on Friday.

Addison Trail claimed its first win over District 88 rival Willowbrook since 2002 by hanging on for a 44-40 West Suburban Gold win in Addison.

That's a string of 12 straight losses broken by the Blazers (4-10, 1-3), who last year trailed the Warriors (7-7, 1-2) 20-0 after one quarter.

Motivated by that painful memory, Addison Trail unleashed its own dominant defense against the Warriors.

The Blazers led 19-4 on a putback by Alex Dimaris and held Willowbrook scoreless for a span of 10 minutes and 12 seconds. Addison Trail almost pitched a shutout in the second quarter, but the Warriors notched a couple of baskets in the final minute.

Even though they weren't able to match last year's goose egg, the Blazers still set a pretty nice tone for themselves.

"The first quarter last year, they beat us pretty bad," said Blazers senior forward Ian Horvath. "All week we were reminded about it and getting hyped up about the game. It feels great to get the win."

After taking a 21-9 lead to the half, however, nothing came easy for the Blazers in the final 16 minutes.

Kyler Market and Graham Olatunji led the Warriors' rally. Market's three-point play and 3-pointer pulled Willowbrook within 34-32 with 5:39 left.

Market, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, narrowed the gap to 39-37 with 59 seconds left, but Addison Trail prevailed from the free-throw line.

"I just didn't think we came ready to play," said Warriors coach Tim Lavorato, whose team played without leading scorer Phillip Reid for what Lavorato called a tweaked hamstring. "I don't think we looked past them, you just can't afford to go down 21-9 to anyone. You just can't put yourself in that position."

Horvath hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 55 seconds and grabbed two huge defensive rebounds. For the game he led his team with 13 points and 8 boards.

Market scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter while Olatunji tallied all 9 of his points in the second half.

"Coming against a rival like that, it's a win the guys can really enjoy," said Blazers coach Brendan Lyons. "It was nice to see our guys play with that kind of composure."