Wilbut's Big 4th Quarter Leads Mustangs Past Hornets

An assistant coach from Dartmouth was scouting Center Brock Benson Friday night, but he ended up seeing a lot more of Downers Grove South Guard Jerron Wilbut than the Hornets would have liked.

The 6'8'' Benson scored a game-high 21 points but had to sit out eight minutes in the first half after picking up three early fouls. With the big guy on the bench, Downers South was able to build a solid lead en route to a 58-46 victory in the West Suburban Conference Gold Division opener for both teams in Downers Grove.

Benson scored the first four points of the game on a pair of easy layups, but was whistled for three quick fouls, the last of which came just 2:23 into the game. Downers South’s Kevin Hall made both of the ensuing free throws to give his team a 5-4 lead and the Mustangs never trailed again.

Hinsdale South coach Vince Doran was not pleased with the foul calls.

“It’s going to give me a heart attack,” Doran said. “These guys come out here tonight, it’s an Ivy League opportunity [for Benson] and the first foul was ridiculous and then the other two were questionable. They’re never going to be called at [the Division I] level.”

Benson sat out the rest of the first quarter but even after he returned the Hornets (1-3, 0-1) were out of rhythm and the Mustangs (4-1, 1-0) built a 30-17 halftime lead.

But the visitors battled back in the third quarter as Benson had seven points and four rebounds in the period. A jumper by Dijon James pulled the Hornets within 37-33 with 7:42 to go in the fourth quarter.

That’s when Wilbut exploded, scoring Downers South’s next 11 points. The 6'3'' senior tallied 13 of his 20 points in the final quarter and all of them came during a 17-6 run that boosted the lead to 54-39 with 2:44 remaining.

He, of course, thought the officiating was fine.

“When I’m going to the basket I’m either looking to score or looking to get fouled,” said Wilbut, who did plenty of both. “I think the refs really worked it both ways so it was a good game, very physical. Hinsdale South really does a good job making the game physical.”

What the Hornets didn’t do a good job of was shooting the ball. The visitors sank only 1 of 15 three-point attempts and committed 18 turnovers, seven of which were steals by either Wilbut or Jamall Millison.

“Against Downers South in their gym, if you don’t have a good shooting night and turn it over as much as we did, you’re not going to beat them,” Doran said. “I told our kids that and hopefully we’ll learn from it, take care of the ball and get better possessions.”

James had 13 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, but Guard Phil George was held to seven points and Jerry Stoltz, who made the all-tournament team at Hinsdale South’s Thanksgiving tournament, had only three points, though he added a game-high five steals.

“It’s hard for our team to adjust [when Benson is not in],” Doran said. “The kids battled. We had some key possessions we just didn’t finish on. We have tremendous inexperience on the floor with two three-year kids, so it’s just a matter of jelling and we have to keep chipping away and it will happen for us.”

Wilbut, like Benson a Division I recruit, never felt the Mustangs were in jeopardy.

“I have confidence in my team, so I knew we were going to get it right back on track,” Wilbut said. “So I was not really worried.”

But Downers South Coach Jay Baum knows Wilbut cannot be expected to rescue the Mustangs single-handedly.

“Tonight our comment as coaches was the end doesn’t justify the means,” Baum said. “We didn’t think we played well. We were not very good on offense. We make just enough mistakes to let other teams stay in the game and we need to get better.

“Our goal this week was to be better than we were a week ago. I’m not sure we’re any better today than we were a week ago.”

Though 10 players scored for the Mustangs, Wilbut was the only one in double figures. Millison, who was shut out in the second half, and Honn both scored seven points, while Hall added six points and six rebounds.

“On a positive note, we did some good things running the break on occasion and we ran our delay a bit at the end,” Baum said.

“Jerron made some nice plays, Danny Spinuzzo handled the ball, Robert Mara got some rebounds, Kevin Hall was a scoring presence in the post and we kind of shut down Phil George who is one of the better players in the league. So there’s some positives but as a coach you see all the things that we need to work on.”