Riverside-Brookfield's pace not what WW South enjoys
Wheaton Warrenville South knew it needed to keep the pace slow against Riverside-Brookfield on Saturday night in order to have a chance to knock off the Bulldogs.
The Tigers accomplished that task in the first half before failing to keep things slow in the second.
Wheaton Warrenville South surrendered 37 second-half points, and despite a commendable comeback attempt, lost 59-53 to the Bulldogs at the 36th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York.
The Tigers (6-3) led 24-22 at the half before a 15-3 Riverside-Brookfield run at the outset of third quarter quickly placed the Tigers in a 10-point hole.
Wheaton Warrenville South offered several reasons for the second-half swoon.
"We struggled with transition defense. We got beat up and down the floor," Tigers coach Mike Healy said. "They picked up the pace of the game. We had the pace where we wanted in the first half, and then they got the pace going the way they wanted in the third quarter."
"We just weren't handling the ball very well," senior guard Greg McAndrew said of the Tigers' 6 third-quarter giveaways. "We're usually a pretty good ballhandling team, and they were just getting in lanes and making us turn it over a little bit more than we'd like to."
Wheaton Warrenville South trailed 51-35 with less than five minutes remaining in the game before staging its comeback attempt. The Tigers hit 5 of their 12 3-point baskets in the final period, with a Reilly O'Toole long ball narrowing the Wheaton Warrenville South deficit to 55-51 with 0:49 to play.
"I was trying to take shots where I was a little bit open and maybe forced a couple shots," O'Toole said of his 9 fourth-quarter points. "I just tried to put the ball up there and get some points for our team."
O'Toole's 19 points couldn't help the Tigers overcome Riverside-Brookfield's inside game. Six-five senior center Terrance Reed exploited his size advantage in the paint on his way to a game-high 22 points, 8 of which came during the crucial third period.
"They just came out with more energy and more focus than we did," O'Toole said. "We didn't come out ready to play.
"I think we thought we'd be all right just kind of floating through the game a little bit, and it came back to bite us."