Boys Basketball: War on the Shore roundup
Updated: February 4, 2012 9:26PM
St. Ignatius 49, New Trier 42
Brian Howard prides himself on playing with energy.
The St. Ignatius senior guard showed it off in the second half Saturday at Loyola’s second annual War on the Shore.
Howard scored 14 of his game-best 18 points in the final two quarters to lead the No. 11-ranked Wolfpack to a 49-42 win over No. 5 New Trier in the first of three games.
“I like to get things jump-started,” he said. “We were lacking some energy in that first half. We played a tough rivalry game against Fenwick the night before. But I still had more energy in me, and I applied it to my favorite quarter, the fourth.”
St. Ignatius (17-3) held New Trier (18-4) scoreless for nearly six minutes of the third quarter to go ahead 26-18. The Wolfpack then took a 31-23 lead into the fourth.
Connor Boehm and Austin Angel scored back-to-back baskets to start the fourth, and New Trier made another brief run to get within four again.
But St. Ignatius used a 9-0 run sparked by Howard to pull away. Howard scored seven points in the fourth and also made a steal and assisted on another basket.
Behind Boehm’s three-pointers, the Trevians got as close as six with 24 seconds to go.
St. Ignatius’ Peter Ryckbosch, a 6-foot-8 senior, did a good job of pushing Boehm out of the post all afternoon. The 6-7 Dartmouth-bound Boehm hit four threes for a team-high 14 points, but nine of his points came in the last two minutes.
“He’s their go-to guy, and he’s dangerous,” St. Ignatius coach Rich Kehoe said. “Our team defense helped a lot, and Peter has the size to match up with him.”
Ryckbosch equaled Boehm with 14 points Saturday.
The Trevians lost consecutive games for the first time all season.
Angel’s eight points helped the Trevians to an 18-15 lead at the half before the Trevians went dark in the third quarter. Angel ended up with 12 points.
“Every good team goes through stuff like this,” said New Trier coach Scott Fricke, whose club beat St. Ignatius 58-52 on Nov. 26 in the final at the season-opening Thanksgiving tournament. “This is a little blip on the screen that we are going through right now.
“It’s all part of a season.”
St. Patrick 58, Evanston 56
It took more than 24 minutes for St. Patrick to wrestle the lead from Evanston on Saturday.
The Shamrocks gave it up 20 seconds later, but Nicholas Coleman’s three-pointer at the 5:30 mark of the fourth returned the advantage to St. Patrick for good.
The Shamrocks (12-7) then sweated out one final Evanston possession before celebrating a 58-56 win at Loyola’s second annual War on the Shore.
“Once we took the lead, it was like ‘All right, guys, it’s our game,’” said St. Patrick junior Elijah Watson, whose basket to start the fourth put the Shamrocks up 43-42.
Evanston’s Terrell Famby tied the game at 48-all with 3:46 left, but Ismer Seferagic followed with two free throws to send the Shamrocks ahead again.
Loren Horton later hit two free throws with 1:30 to play to put St. Patrick up 58-52.
Two turnovers, including one with 22 seconds remaining, enabled Evanston (14-9) an opportunity to tie the game. But the Wildkits failed to get off a shot.
“We got real stagnant,” Evanston coach Mike Ellis said of the last series. “We played it to get a three. We were not aggressive enough, and we played right into their hands.”
St. Patrick won for the sixth time in a row Saturday. Watson attributed the turnaround to unselfish play.
“We let our own agendas go,” he said. “We aren’t playing as individuals anymore. We are playing for St. Patrick. That’s been the biggest part of our success.”
Seferagic, who played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls, led all scorers with 17 points. Royale Ewing and Horton each scored 12 for the Shamrocks, while Watson added 10 points.
Josh Irving scored seven of his 14 points in the first quarter as the Wildkits ran out to a 16-12 lead. Evanston took a 32-27 edge into the break and led by as many as seven in the third quarter.
“We came out a little sluggish, but they woke us up,” Watson said. “We started playing hard, and we finally toughened up.”
Waukegan 79, Loyola 56
Waukegan won’t be welcome back on the North Shore anytime soon.
After defeating No. 5-ranked New Trier in Winnetka on Friday to earn a share of the CSL South lead, the Bulldogs beat Loyola 79-56 in Wilmette on Saturday in the third and final game of the Ramblers’ War on the Shore.
Ahead by 15 at the half, the Bulldogs (13-8) got it up to 30 near the end of the third quarter. They didn’t let up in the fourth quarter, either.
“We run up and down the court in our practices every day, even sometimes before games,” said Waukegan senior Akeem Springs, who scored 10 points. “We expect to be in good condition and be able to play back-to-back games like this.”
Jordan Johnson scored 17 of his game-best 23 points in the first half and made five three-pointers on the night. The junior said it was his best first half since late November.
“I’ve have good games, but it mostly comes in the second half,” he said. “It’s been a while I’ve done this in the first half.”
Relying almost exclusively on the three-pointer, Loyola (8-14) could never catch up after going down 10 in the first quarter. The Ramblers, who were the only North Shore team to win a game in the first year of the tournament last season, hit seven threes in the first half and nine more in the second half.
Chris Sullivan led Loyola with 15 points, all coming on threes. Jack Morrissey made four threes for 12 points. Peter Pujals contributed 10 points in the loss.
Since losing to Lyons 66-39 on Jan. 7, the Bulldogs have won seven consecutive contests. Springs said the Bulldogs are growing up and learning to play more as a team.
“I knew we would be better later in the season,” he said. “We’ve been a better practice team, and we are tighter now.
“Everything is clicking.”
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