WW South defense at its best vs. Wheaton North
Wheaton Warrenville South's boys basketball team saved one of its best efforts for its biggest game.
The Tigers avenged a December cross-town loss to Wheaton North by beating the visiting Falcons 48-38 in Friday's DuKane Conference action.
Coach Mike Healy called it his team's best defensive effort this season, but the Tigers (17-9, 6-5) also did more than enough offensively while spreading six 3-pointers among four players. The combination created a 14-point turnaround from the earlier 40-36 loss to the Falcons.
"Every game is a big game because we have a tough schedule throughout the whole year, but this thing, it always means something more," said Tigers senior Joe Ives, who scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, including 7-of-8 free-throw shooting. "Especially at our place. These games are like lifelong memories."
With WW South starters Matt Scherrman, Owen Struebing and Jeff Kratz all battling foul trouble, it was a huge night for the bench. Colin Rachford, Jason Haw and Declin Ermer accounted for only 5 points, but the overall contribution was critical - especially the charges Ermer took on defense.
Everyone seemed ready to go for the Tigers, who jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to Scherrman. WW South led wire-to-wire with a margin as wide as 13 points.
"We were in foul trouble and people stepped up," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "We're never going to be crazy offensively, but if we can play defensively like we did tonight, we give ourselves a chance."
Wheaton North (15-10, 8-3) fell two games behind DKC leader Geneva (24-1, 10-1) with a Tuesday home game looming against the Vikings. The Falcons never looked comfortable offensively against the Tigers' ball press, and the shooting stats showed as much.
Wheaton North made 4 of 16 3-pointers, although the more damaging issue was turnovers. The Falcons committed 14 of their 21 in the first half and managed only 7 points.
"The first half we didn't execute the way we had in practice all week," said Falcons coach Dave Brackmann. "In the moment we didn't stick to what we thought would work and we dug ourselves a bit of a hole because of that. We always play good defense so we were able to hang around."
Kratz scored 14 points and Scherrman, who fouled out, had 8 points. Deng Reng led Wheaton North with 13 points. Garrett Horner scored 8 points and Xander Mueller, who fouled out along with point guard Matthew Brend, added 7 points.
Twitter: @kevin_schmit