When Fenwick fell behind Providence by 12 points after one quarter Friday night in Oak Park, coach John Quinn had a simple message for his team.
He told them they had built a big hole and now had three quarters to climb out of it.
Fenwick is used to this. At the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, the Friars rallied from a 20-point, third-quarter deficit to beat Evanston in a first-round game.
Friday night it took the Friars a little more than two quarters to rally past Providence on their way to a 61-53 Catholic League crossover victory.
And as he had against Evanston, sub Ashtyn Bell provided the spark. The 6-foot senior guard is Fenwick’s leading scorer on the season, averaging around 14 points a game despite not starting. Friday, Bell scored all of his 10 points in the second half.
The Friars rallied for a 40-40 tie entering the final quarter. Fenwick (10-3, 5-1 Catholic North) put the game away with a 7-0 run to begin the fourth quarter. Dan Kloak sparked the run with a three-pointer and Bell completed it with two consecutive baskets.
“We like to think that he is probably the best kid off the bench in the state,” Quinn said of Bell.
Sophomore forward Vince Humphrey led Fenwick with 14 points, while Kloak added 13.
For Providence (6-7, 2-4), guard Michael Lindsey led all scorers with 18 points and Kyle Callaghan added 13. Michael Thompson had nine points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks before fouling out with 3:20 remaining.
Bob Skolnik.
Leo 56, St. Ignatius 48
Maybe it was the six days off from basketball. Maybe Leo still dwelled on last Saturday’s Big Dipper championship loss to Shepard. But whatever it was that bugged the Lions, it certainly appeared to have a negative impact most of the first half against St. Ignatius.
But Leo pushed up the tempo in its favor in the second half as senior forward Chris Burras ignited a 16-4 third-quarter run with eight points to lift the visitors to a Catholic League win.
“I don’t know, maybe we got a little bit too much rest,” said Burras, who finished the first quarter with just two points. “We started out sluggish but coach [Jerry Tokars] told us to increase the intensity in the second half.”
Leo (10-7, 3-3) turned it up a notch only after St. Ignatius’ Matt Weber (19 points, three three-pointers) kept the Wolfpack close with a three-pointer to make it 26-21 with 5:20 left in the third quarter.
Tokars switched Burras, who grabbed 16 rebounds, to the outside simply to draw St. Ignatius defenders out with him, opening up the possibility for other Lions to score. But Burras drew single coverage for the most part and buried two threes from the left wing and Curshawn Pullen made two layups, catapulting Leo to a 42-25 lead with one quarter left to play.
A basket by Jason Coleman gave the Lions their biggest lead at 49-27 with 5:50 left in the game. St. Ignatius (6-9, 2-4) reserves closed the gap in the end.
Steve Knight chipped in 10 points for Leo, while Ian Barney had 11 points and 12 rebounds for St. Ignatius.
Henry Del Valle.
Riverside-Brookfield 76, Yorkville 70
At Riverside-Brookfield, in basketball as in football, success is becoming the name of the game. But after Friday night’s home victory over Yorkville, R-B’s 11th straight, perhaps even winning has started to become routine for the run-and-gun Bulldogs.
“We did what we do,” coach Tom McCloskey said. “We created good offense off our running game. We got a little out of sync at the end, but sometimes those things are going to happen.”
As it had in capturing the York tournament title a week ago, R-B built several large leads and held off its opponent during the lulls. Shatone Powers had 25 points and six rebounds, Tim Brasic had 21 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists and Brandon Davis had 18 points and eight boards as the Bulldogs (11-2, 6-0) stayed atop the Suburban Prairie White with Sycamore.
R-B, which never trailed, ran out to a 20-5 lead only to watch the Foxes (11-4, 5-2) roar back, running off 10 straight points to trail 22-17 with 5:39 remaining in the first half. Brasic then went to work, handing out two assists to Powers and one to Davis and then hitting a pull-up jumper with 2:10 remaining to up the lead to 31-17.
Davis had eight points in the third as R-B pushed its lead to as much as 53-37, and Brasic had 15 in the fourth as the Bulldogs led by as many as 18.
The closest the Foxes got in the final period was the final score. R-B led 69-52 with 3:03 left before allowing Yorkville to finish the game on an 18-7 run.
Reid Burel paced Yorkville with 25 points while Sam Olson added 12.
Phil English.
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In other games:
Aurora Central 51, Montini 49: Andrew Tayorcq had 17 points to lead the Chargers (7-9, 2-4) in the Suburban Catholic.
Benet 52, Marist 45: Phil Goforth had 14 points to lead the Redwings (3-10, 2-3) in the East Suburban Catholic.
Downers Grove North 66, York 52: Stephan Bolt had 19 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as the Trojans (8-7, 2-2) pulled away with a 21-8 outburst in the fourth quarter for the West Suburban Silver win. Matt Formato, whose fourth-quarter three-pointer sparked a 9-0 run, added 18 points for Downers North. Brad Heinz had 11 points to lead York (9-6, 2-2).
Driscoll 73, Marian Central 57: Greg Turner had 24 points and Paul Pedi added 17 for Driscoll (11-3, 5-0) in the Suburban Catholic.
Hales Franciscan 50, St. Rita 49: Rennel Taylor’s jumper from the top of the key with 1.5 seconds remaining gave Hales (8-7, 4-2) the Catholic League win. Taylor scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half while Jawaan Stallings had 16 points. Mike Rembert’s 20 points and 12 rebounds led St. Rita.
Holy Cross 45, Joliet Catholic 35: Joel Burnett had 16 points and Jack Walsh added 12 for the Crusaders (14-1, 5-1) in the East Suburban Catholic.
Homewood Christian 95, Luther South 53: Jimmie Miles scored 40 points while Rick Cornett added 26 points, 22 rebounds and eight blocks as the Eagles (11-2) rolled.
Lisle 66, Coal City 56: Joe Cortez had 20 points and Tom Buchholz added 14 points as Lisle (11-1, 5-0) held on in the Interstate Eight.
Loyola 60, St. Laurence 52: Colin Falls scored 35 points and went on a 10-point run in the fourth quarter for Loyola as the Ramblers (11-3, 4-2) rallied for the Catholic League win. Falls also hit 18-of-20 free-throw attempts. St. Laurence (7-8, 0-6) led 46-44 with 3:50 left before Falls took over. Rami Faris scored 16 points to lead the Vikings.
Naperville Central 78, Glenbard North 67: Ryan Paradise had 38 points, including 16-of-16 from the free-throw line, for the Redhawks (8-7, 3-2) as coach Bob Sterr earned his 500th career win. Paradise scored the first 12 of his team’s second-quarter points to help Central take a 42-33 lead into halftime.
“I was just feeling it,” Paradise said. “The rim looked like the size of a huge bucket.”
Glenbard North falls to 11-3, 3-2 in the DuPage Valley.
St. Francis 52, Marmion 49 (OT): Tom Buresh had 24 points and six of the seven for the Spartans (5-9, 3-3) in overtime for the Suburban Catholic win.
Stevenson 54, Mundelein 50: Greg Zimny had 29 points while hitting 10-of-12 shots from the floor to lead the Patriots (11-5, 2-2) to a North Suburban Lake win that featured two ties and six lead changes.
Rueben Trotter added 11 points and six rebounds for Stevenson, while Ryan Raymondo had 16 points to lead Mundelein (6-9, 2-2).
Wheaton North 77, West Chicago 60: Dan Walser had 23 points to lead four Falcons (13-2, 3-1) in double figures in the DuPage Valley win. Nate Hardwick added 15 points, Derek Meister had 13 and Dareon Spencer had 12 points and five steals for Wheaton North. Nick Michael had 21 points and 15 rebounds for West Chicago.
Zion-Benton 75, North Chicago 48: Andre White and Jason George had 15 points each as the Zee-Bees (12-2, 4-0) rolled to the North Suburban Prairie win. Zion-Benton outscored the Warhawks 23-4 and forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter. Dwayne Wilson’s 17 points led North Chicago (4-11, 1-3).
Girls basketball
Lake Zurich 57, Crystal Lake Central 26: Johanna Solverson had 15 points and Patti Hornung added 13 for the No. 10 Bears (15-0, 9-0) in the Fox Valley.
Neuqua Valley 67, Lake Park 51: Lindsay Wisdom had 22 points to lead No. 17 Neuqua Valley (13-3) in the Upstate Eight. Andrea Durante had 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead Lake Park.
Andrew 53, Buffalo Grove 51 (OT): Molly McLean’s layup at the buzzer lifted Andrew (10-5) to the non-conference win. McLean finished with 11 points while Dawn Vander Meer collected 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunderbolts, who went on a 6-1 at the end of regulation to tie the game 47-47 and force the extra session.
Laura Becker and Ashley Sandstead scored 15 points apiece for Buffalo Grove (11-6).
Minooka 49, Morris 41: Jenna Hall had 16 points and Jessica Kirincich chipped in with 13 points for Minooka in the Suburban Prairie Red.
Public League tournament: Washington (7-9) edged Hyde Park 40-35 in the title game behind Ashley Austin’s 14 points. Austin was named co-MVP of the tournament with Hyde Park’s Dominique Headd, who finished with 16 points.
York 71, Downers Grove North 42: Krystal Hugelier had 28 points to pace the Dukes in the West Suburban Silver.