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player ready...Sophomore guard Payton Thorne and Metea Valley would love to box these fast starts and save them for another day.
Or at least a full game.
Huge first quarters have been the catalyst to wins over Neuqua Valley and Naperville Central. Metea knocked unbeaten Wheaton Warrenville South back on its heels Tuesday.
The Tigers, though, recovered to roll past host Metea 76-54 in the DuPage Valley.
Thorne and Jeremy Hunter each scored 13 points and Ashton Creal added 12 for the Mustangs (3-6, 2-3), which were burned by Wheaton’s 20-2 spurt to start the second quarter.
“We seem to come out with energy and get good starts in most of our games, but turnovers are killing us,” Thorne said. “We got to keep that confidence we have in the first quarter and carry it to a full game.”
Metea was Metea at its best Tuesday — for a quarter. And Thorne was a big reason.
The Mustangs pressured Wheaton (10-0, 6-0) into seven turnovers in the first quarter. Speeding Wheaton up, Metea hit four 3-pointers, with Thorne’s second making it 17-15. The Mustangs led 19-15 after a quarter.
“We work really hard to get to the point of the game to where we want to be against a really good team,” Metea coach Matt Walpole said. “Late first quarter, early second has been our downfall last couple games.”
When it went, it went fast.
The Mustangs turned it over on their first four possessions of the second quarter, and Wheaton hit its first five shots. Metea had nine of its 20 turnovers in the quarter.
Walpole wants his team to play fast, but he wants them to be smarter when things go south.
“We have to play fast under control,” Walpole said. “It’s knowing what a good shot is and when to take a shot in possession. We’re a work in progress.”
Wheaton, for sure, isn’t.
The Tigers already own wins over expected DVC favorites Naperville North and Wheaton North, and again showed why.
Dillon Durrett had 31 points and Chase Stebbins added 17 for Wheaton, which shot a blistering 73 percent (32-for-44).
Metea switched from its usual man-to-man to a matchup zone to prevent Wheaton from extending possessions, to no avail.
“They’re very fundamentally sound and they move the ball well,” Thorne said. “We were a little slow on a couple rotations and that leads to open shots.”
Thorne was part of a unique subplot in the game.
The grandson of former Wheaton football coach John Thorne was playing his first basketball game against the Tigers. Wheaton’s starting guards Jake Healy and Drew Healy also are namesakes as the sons of Tigers basketball coach Mike Healy.
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Thorne scored five points in the third quarter to close Metea back to 41-31, but Wheaton blew it open again with a 12-3 stretch to start the fourth.
“It’s always fun playing against those guys (Wheaton),” Thorne said. “They obviously know who I am from my grandfather.”
Joshua Welge is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.