Junior guard Ryan Sucha realized the trend at the start of the third quarter for Lincoln-Way East has been to start slow.
More Top Picks maxgfx.com
The 6-foot-5 Sucha wanted to make sure that changed Friday night.
Sucha scored a team-high 17 points and senior forward Sean McLaughlin added 14 as the Griffins came out of halftime with a 15-1 spurt for a 67-56 victory over Lincoln-Way Central in a Southwest Suburban crossover.
Afterward, McLauglin and Sucha talked about how the Griffins (14-5, 1-2) rode that effort in the third quarter to take down the Knights (15-7, 2-1).
“We’ve been working all week on it,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve been having inconsistencies getting back in transition and once we got that settled and started playing half court, we knew we would be able to dominate them.”
“We really wanted to stick and play together,” Sucha said. “Usually we don’t come out of halftime and do so well, but (Friday) we were passing a lot and hitting a lot more of our shots. It was a really good game for all of us.”
East coach Rich Kolimas reiterated Sucha’s point about lackluster starts to the second half and how much of a pleasant change of pace it was to see.
“That hasn’t been our history,” Kolimas said. “We’ve really struggled in the third quarter this year so we talked about playing with a little more focus coming out of halftime.
“So to see us hit some shots coming out of halftime and to see our defense play so well against a team like Lincoln-Way Central where everyone can shoot, it was great.”
On the flip side, Central Bob Curran viewed the Knights’ lack of possession in the third to be the reason why the Griffins went on the decisive run.
“Basketball is a game of possessions,” Curran said. “I felt they had some more opportunities, which allowed for them to convert on more chances and we didn’t.
“I think us being in foul trouble early in the third also aided them and made us have to play from behind the whole second half.”
It was not all bad for the Knights, however. Junior point guard Sean Curran had his way, scoring a game-high 26 points from all over the court.
Despite the result, Sean Curran did his best in the postgame to look at the positives as well.
“I felt I had a good game overall,” Curran said. “I also feel I made some stupid mistakes, turnovers and stuff like that. Those mistakes hurt us in the third.
“It’s tough to lose this one, though. This is a game we were looking forward to, and it would’ve been nice to have won it since we were at home, but we will learn from this loss and move forward.”
One added motivating factor Friday night was the district rivalry, and McLaughlin pointed out how East used that as motivation to play its best.
“You don’t want to be the team to lose,” McLaughlin said. “You want to be the East team that dominates Central in every aspect, and that’s exactly what we did.”
John Romando is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.