The farther New Trier strayed from the goal, the better it got.
A deep run at the Proviso West Holiday Tournament may seem like a stretch, but the 3-point shot has been known to be quite the equalizer.
New Trier made 10 such baskets in 19 attempts Tuesday and caught fire down the stretch to upend Downers Grove North 50-40 in the first round in Hillside.
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Aaron Peltz scored 15 points on five 3s, Griffin Ryan had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Andrew Kirkpatrick added three 3s and 12 points. The Trevians (7-4) went 7 of 9 beyond the arc in the second half to set up a second-round matchup with No. 9 Young at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“We are excited,” Peltz said. “We know it is a huge challenge ahead of us. We had it in the back of our minds that we had a great opportunity to play an unbelievable team if we win today, and we went out and executed.
“We knew if we stuck with our game plan we would keep getting good shots, and it ended up working in the second half.”
Downers Grove North (8-2) extended a five-point halftime lead to nine early in the third quarter and still led 29-27 after three.
A Peltz 3 gave New Trier its first lead since a 6-0 start, followed by one from Ryan and three straight from Kirkpatrick to make it 42-33 with about three minutes to play.
The Trevians were just 4-for-15 on 2-point shots. They scored four points in a 10-minute, 32-second stretch of the first half before Griffin sank a 3 at the halftime buzzer.
“I don’t think we were playing bad, we were just missing every shot we took,” New Trier coach Scott Fricke said. “In the second half we started making shots. It was as simple as that. In the first half we were missing I think pretty good looks around the basket. In the second half we shot 3s.”
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.
Player of the game: Griffin Ryan, New Trier, 10 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds.
Key performers: New Trier — Aaron Peltz, 15 points, 5 3s; Andrew Kirkpatrick, 12 points, 3 3s. Downers Grove North — Bryan Jakobsze, 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals.