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Notre Dame spoils return home for Hoffman's Yanule

Hoffman Estates boys basketball coach Luke Yanule was hoping for a triumphant return to Notre Dame in Niles Saturday night.

Yanule, a member of the Don's 1996-97 Notre Dame team that made it to the Class AA Elite Eight saw his Hawks go down to a 50-36 nonconference loss.

Hoffman Estates (6-15) did not score its first basket until there was 7:13 left in the second quarter. At that point the Hawks trailed 14-1 to the 16-9 Dons.

"This is like a broken record," said Yanule. "The players themselves said in the locker room after the game that we have to play better at the start of the game. We get ourselves in a hole. This has happened a lot. We played better in the second half but we were too far behind at halftime (27-8)."

Sheldon Barnett-Morales led the Hawks with 20 points and agreed with Yanule on the slow starts.

"We have to learn to be more aggressive at the start of the game," said Barnett-Morales. "We let ourselves down in that first quarter. At halftime coach told us to work the ball inside and get to the rim."

The Hawks made some minor runs in the second half, but the 1-2 punch of sophomores Troy D'Amico (19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks) and Anthony Sayles (12 points) found ways to break up the runs.

In the game's second half the Hawks outscored the Dons 28-23

Notre Dame coach Kevin Clancy, who was a junior on the Elite Eight team when Yanule was a senior, was glad the two teams could get together.

"Luke and I talked about trying to get a game during the summer," said Clancy. "It was his first time coming back to his old gym. I'm sure there was a lot of sentimental value in the game tonight for him. I appreciated him coming back here tonight."

Yanule's team, when he played, beat Maine South in the sectional final on a backdoor buzzer-beater. The Dons then beat Deerfield 43-30 in the supersectional before falling to Rockford Boylan in Peoria.

"This was great coming back to this gym tonight," said Yanule. "It was also a return for my sophomore coach Denny Zelasko, who was my head coach when I played here. I thought this would be good for our team to play here. This game had a little different feel."

Yanule was frank about his feelings on what he learned at Notre Dame.

"The people here helped formulate character," said Yanule. "What I learned was how a team can be a family. That's what I wanted to carry over to Hoffman Estates. There are a lot of people in the stands tonight that have been very supportive of me. I was excited to play and now coach in this atmosphere."

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