Boys Basketball: Metea Valley scores 100 in win

Updated: December 27, 2011 9:12PM

Metea Valley players like to push the envelope, favoring an uptempo style on the basketball court. In Eisenhower Tuesday, the No. 20 Mustangs met a team that shreds it, favoring email.

“We like to run, but not that much,” said Metea senior guard Ryan Solomon after his team claimed a 100-79 decision in a helter-skelter affair in which the teams combined for 144 shots.

The Mustangs withstood the Cardinals’ pressure and hit 59 percent (42-of-71) of their shots to run their record to 10-0 and advance to second-round play of the inaugural Hinsdale South Tournament. Metea meets Rolling Meadows, a 57-52 winner over Hinsdale South, Wednesday night at 7:45 p.m.

“Exhausting,” said Mustangs coach Bob Vozza, summing up the evening, which had five of his players scoring in double figures.

Senior guard Kenny Obendorf led the way with 27, Solomon added 20, LaShawn Cargo had 18, Sean Davis 13 and Trayvond Taylor came off the bench to add 12.

The top-seeded Mustangs led 22-11 after one quarter then put up 30 points in the second to take a 52-36 lead at the break.

“Needless to say, at halftime there wasn’t much strategy being discussed, just an idiot coach venting,” said Eisenhower’s Mike Curta, whose club fell to 3-10 and shot just 37 percent (27-of-73). “Their players did a good job executing and broke the press by going up the middle.”

Metea led by as many as 23 points early in the third, but Eisenhower kept coming in waves, changing players five at a time.

“It was exhausting running up and down the court,” said Solomon. “It got tiring after the first quarter. They change like hockey lines every 30-40 seconds. Their style of plays is faster than ours. This was nothing like our usual game, we usually run good sets.”

On this night, they didn’t have to because they kept attacking the basket. Thirty-five of Metea’s 42 baskets came on layups or putbacks and they finished with 26 assists.

The Cardinals cut the deficit to single digits once, at 80-71 on a three-point play by Davalle Ward (11 points), but Solomon answered with a layup and Taylor a short jumper to help the Mustangs keep them at bay.

“That’s kind of the way it has been for us,” said Curta. “Usually, in the third and fourth quarter teams are grabbing their knees catching their breath, but they did a nice job of moving people in an out, too. And (Solomon) was the key. His all-around game was the difference.”

Solomon finished with 10 rebounds for a double-double and added seven assists and four steals.

Tyrone Terrell came off the bench to lead the Cardinals with 25 points, including six of his team’s 11 three-pointers. Dustan Lewis added 10.

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