Boys Basketball: Andrew tops Oak Lawn, wins Crete-Monee tourney
Updated: November 23, 2011 8:23PM
It’s only three games into a season that could last four months, but Andrew appears to be able to run, or slow the tempo, or vary it as the game dictates.
Wednesday night, the Thunderbolts dispatched Oak Lawn, 52-32, to win the Crete-Monee Thanksgiving Tournament. They did so with only Jubril Adekoya in double figures. He scored 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, but given the game’s pace and coach Mike O’Halloran’s substitution pattern, that was as impressive as the 25 points and eight boards he registered against the host Warriors the night before.
“The bench was key tonight,” O’Halloran said. “Tonight, 10 different players scored for us. Last night, the pace of the game was faster, and we shortened the bench.”
The pace was too quick for Oak Lawn (0-3) in the second quarter, when Andrew (3-0) pulled away, outscoring the Spartans 14-2. It was a two-point game, with every possession contested, until Jawad Adekoya’s 16-foot fallaway jumper midway through the quarter triggered a 12-0 Andrew run for the rest of the frame. Jubril Adekoya followed his brother by scoring off a rebound, then converting a pass from Glorind Lisha. Jawad did the same a minute later, and suddenly it was 26-14. Less then 90 seconds into the second half, it was 30-14, and over.
“Getting only one field goal in a quarter and not getting to the free-throw line, it’s difficult to hang around,” Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes said.
The Spartans were led by guard Lyndell Johnson’s 13 points and five rebounds, but he, like everyone but Malcolm Simmons, was shut out in the second quarter. Andrew held Oak Lawn scoreless for 8 minutes 40 seconds.
“I think we were on eight cylinders tonight,” O’Halloran said. “We pride ourselves on our defense.”
So far, so great.
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