Senior guard Ahron Ulis pointed out how Marian Catholic “had to be patient” Tuesday night, while senior forward Elijah Jones described it as “being patient.”
That virtue definitely paid off for the Spartans, who used an efficient offense and a dominant defense to dispatch host Brother Rice 55-31 in Chicago.
The game was close midway through the first quarter, but from there, Marian (18-7) moved past the Crusaders (16-8) behind 16 points from Ulis and 12 from Jones.
Afterward, Marian coach Mike Taylor talked about how this effort rated among the best games of the season for the Spartans, who allowed only three successful 3-pointers.
“I was really pleased with what we did,” Taylor said. “Our defense is getting better. We are understanding what we are supposed to do on that end of the floor. We still have more to grow, but this was a great performance.”
For Ulis and Jones, the win came back to that one word — patience.
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“They came out in a zone and we had to be patient,” Ulis said. “Playing that way allowed for us to find more open shots on the outside and driving lanes to make easy layups.”
“We had a really good practice (Monday),” Jones said. “We put an emphasis on moving the ball and being patient. We did that and it really worked for us.”
For Brother Rice, though, very little seemed to work Tuesday night.
Senior guard Colin Campbell made a successful return, scoring 11 points and making all three of the teams 3-pointers, but Crusaders coach Bobby Frasor was not pleased with the loss.
“This is a team that’s in our sectional,” Frasor said. “We just came off a big win, but if you want to win a regional, you’re going to have to beat good teams.
“Right now, we don’t have the wherewithal to beat those tough teams.”
Frasor confirmed what changes would need to be made moving forward.
“Maybe there was an emotional letdown (Tuesday),” Frasor said. “But that was embarrassing on all fronts. On my part, on their part, we have to get it fixed. This isn’t a scheme problem. This is a mindset and culture problem.
“We aren’t practicing the right way right now, we aren’t building the habits that a championship team does, and part of that is on me. I somehow have to get that out of these guys and find the right guys to do it.”
Marian Catholic will look to keep this high level of play going for the postseason. In order to accomplish that, both Jones and Ulis feel hard work and teamwork will be necessary.
“We have you just keep working hard in practice,” Jones said. “We have to keep this good mindset if we want to keep playing like this.”
“We have to come into every game with a will to win,” Ulis said. “We have to continue to play and practice hard and to play together.”
John Romando is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.