WINNETKA — Caleb deMarigny and George Sargeant are in the same AP Statistics class at Maine South.
One day after the Hawks had their worst night of the season from the free-throw line in a 47-45 triple-overtime loss to New Trier, Sargeant said Friday that he and deMarigny talked about how the law of large numbers might apply to the team’s percentage this season.
“Right now, we are starting low, but we hope by the end of the year after more games, we will be shooting at a higher percentage,” said Sargeant, whose 61 percent at the line is 23 points below his average as a junior.
The law explains that the average of the results of performing the same experiment a large number of times should be close to the expected value.
Maine South finished 7-for-17 from the line on Dec. 11 against the Trevians. That was a contributing factor in the team’s first loss of the season, which ended the Hawks’ 17-game Central Suburban South winning streak. The point total was their lowest of the season by 12.
“In a one-possession game like that, you have got to hit your free throws,” Maine South coach Tony Lavorato said. “We did not. It’s something we have to highlight this season. It’s something we are stressing and are worried about because it cost us [against New Trier].”
Through seven games, the Hawks (6-1, 1-1) were shooting 56 percent on free throws as a team. Last season, Maine South made 75 percent. Since the 2009-10 season, the Hawks have made at least 67 percent of their free throws each season.
“All year, we haven’t been up to par on free throws, and it finally caught up to us,” said Sargeant, who was 3-for-6 against the Trevians. “I couldn’t really tell you why. Maybe we need to clear our minds more at the line. But it’s definitely something we’ve been working on at the end of practices.”
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At week’s end, Maine South’s three best players — junior guard Jon Arenas, deMarigny and Sargeant — had taken 96 of the team’s 137 free throws and made a combined 61 percent. Last season, the three made 81 percent of shots from the line.
The struggle from the line against the Trevians happened on a night the Hawks shot 33 percent from the floor. DeMarigny said every team is going to shoot poorly every now and then, but the Hawks should have been better from the line.
“We just didn’t find another way to win,” he said. “We didn’t do anything else well, including making our free throws.”
Lavorato said it still is too soon to panic about the reasons why the Hawks are having a down year from the free-throw line. He said the problem most likely will work itself out as the Hawks get deeper into the schedule.
“You don’t want to spook them by placing too much emphasis on it,” Lavorato said. “Plus, they are too good of shooters to be this poor for a long time. The season is young.”