The Notre Dame boys basketball team entered its game against Marian Catholic, which is ranked No. 9 by the baiduhai, on a two-game losing streak. But the Dons didn’t let that deter them.
Notre Dame continued its trend of bouncing back from losses with a 56-43 East Suburban Catholic victory over the Spartans on Friday, Feb. 5, in Niles. Coming into the game, Marian Catholic was the lone conference team with an undefeated mark in league play.
After road losses to Joliet Catholic (53-43) and Loyola (54-45) on Friday, Jan. 29, and Saturday, Jan. 30, respectively, the Dons worked on themselves more than on the Spartans (17-5, 4-1) the past week in practice.
“This whole week we have been working on our team-building skills,” said senior Elvin Husejnovic, a guard who scored a team-high 11 points against the Spartans. “We didn’t focus much on Marian Catholic and we just focused on ourselves and running our things to the best of our abilities, so come game time we execute properly.”
Notre Dame coach Tom Les noted that his team’s performance in practice the past week helped it earn the win.
“I thought we had a good week of practice, which leads to productivity in the game,” Les said. “So I thought we practiced hard all week and we competed and it was a huge difference in the way things went during this game. It was energy and focus [on Friday, Feb. 5]. We knew we were playing a really good team, so we were much more focused and had much more energy. I think that was the difference.”
Notre Dame (17-6, 3-3) earned its two tournament championships this season after a defeat.
Following a 51-50 home loss to St. Patrick on Friday, Dec. 18, the Dons won four consecutive games at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic, culminating with a 62-48 win in the championship over Libertyville on Saturday, Dec. 26.
Notre Dame lost its first two contests of 2016, falling to Fenwick 61-52 on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and to Benet 62-45 on Thursday, Jan. 14. But then it reeled off four straight wins at the Wheaton Warrenville South MLK Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 16, and Monday, Jan. 18. In the tournament title game, the Dons earned a 49-46 win over Benet, the same team they had lost to just four days prior.
Husejnovic credited Notre Dame’s three senior starters who also started together last year — Ammar Becar, Lucas Simon and Anthony D’Avanzo — for providing leadership and positive encouragement in practice after a loss this season.
“They really help us out, especially Ammar doing a great job keeping us positive and cheering us on during practice and pushing us to get better every day,” Husejnovic said. “So I think having a lot of great leaders and experienced players on our team helps a lot with bouncing back.”
The Dons have used tunnel vision to disregard previous losses and move forward. Notre Dame hasn’t had a three-game losing streak this season.
“We don’t put our heads down and think about that we lost,” said Becar, a senior forward. “We try not to remember the past because the past is the past and we can’t change anything. What you want is not to let it happen again and that’s what we all knew, and coach knows that, and we just want to go into the playoffs with a good [winning] streak.”
The Class 4A playoffs begin on Monday, Feb. 29.
Game notes
* Notre Dame plays an inside-out game on offense and the Dons got contributions from numerous post players and guards against Marian Catholic. In addition to Husejnovic, Becar and junior guard Matt Stritzel also reached double figures by scoring 10 points each. Junior forward Chris Heinichen recorded nine points, while D’Avanzo, a center, and Simon, a guard, netted six points apiece.
“It’s good when you have a lot of options,” Husejnovic said. “So we can hurt you from the inside and when they start overplaying you inside, it creates open shots for shooters like myself and Stritzel and it’s our job to knock them down. If they start closing out too much on us, we dump it down to the big guy, so it’s a lose-lose situation either way.”
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* Notre Dame’s goal was to keep Marian Catholic under 40 points and the starters achieved that goal. The Dons were up 56-35 when their starters were taken out of the game. Marian Catholic ended the game on an 8-0 run.
“Coach said in the locker room to keep them under 40,” Becar said. “That was our goal to keep them under that and play good defense and execute on offense and that’s pretty much what we did.”
Todd Marver is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @todd_marver