Bolingbrook Snaps Win String At 10 At War On The Shore

Evanston’s short-handed basketball team did a remarkable job of staying close to Bolingbrook for three quarters Saturday at the 16th annual War On The Shore shootout event held at Beardsley Gym.

But that’s when the Raiders put an emphatic end to Evanston’s 10-game winning streak.

The Raiders outscored the Wildkits 21-10 in the fourth quarter and earned a 79-63 triumph in the third game of a tripleheader that is held annually to raise funds for epilepsy research and also involves the programs from Loyola Academy and New Trier.

It wasn’t an ideal matchup for an Evanston team that hasn’t yet played up to the program’s usual defensive standards and was pitted against a Bolingbrook squad known for its penchant for 1-on-1 attacks at the basket. The Wildkits surrendered a season high 79 points as all five Bolingbrook starters scored in double figures.

Evanston was still without the services of injured standout Vito Rocca --- although he is expected to return at some point from a lower body injury --- and classmate Tate Schroeder missed the contest after being diagnosed with strep throat just after scoring 22 points in a win over Glenbrook South on Friday night.

The Kits, now 20-4 on the season, got a career-high 18 points from senior Elliot Pratt but couldn’t get enough stops at the defensive end to snatch a win.

Great offense --- Evanston has averaged close to 70 points per game --- has masked the fact that the state’s No. 6 ranked Class 4A team is still a work in progress on defense. And the deeper head coach Mike Ellis has to dig into his bench because of Rocca’s injury, the more exposed that defense becomes.

Evanston trailed just 58-53 after three quarters thanks to consecutive 3-point buckets by Pratt, Ben Ojala (17 points) and Dion Lane Jr. (11 points) and another by Timi Ogunsanya (14 points) that resulted in a 9-4 surge and cut a 10-point deficit in half.

But the hosts missed their first five field goal attempts to start the fourth period and Bolingbrook (18-6) pulled away from them.

“They had more stops than we did tonight,” Ellis said. “They can put the ball in the basket, and so can we. Our guys battled and hung with them, and that’s a very talented team. When they can get to the basket like that they score on 80 percent of those looks. They’re hard to guard. They’re hard to stop.

“Our defense hasn’t been achieving our (team) goals (on a game-by-game basis) like some of the teams we’ve had in the past. That’s not our strength. We’re not overlooking the defensive end of things --- we’re working on it --- but we get in trouble when we’re more worried about offense and not about our defense.

“And we do have guys (non-starters) who have to compete harder in practice. We’re not a deep team to begin with, and we have no one providing any kind of lift off the bench for us. Bolingbrook’s bench outscored us 15-0 tonight and that was the point difference in the game. We didn’t really get a lift from anybody off the bench.”

Pratt was the right guy in the right place against a Raider team that occasionally rests on defense. The 6-foot-4 senior scored a pair of 3-point baskets and five lay-ups in his fourth start since Rocca was injured.

Evanston had the upper hand early Saturday, breaking to a 26-19 lead on a triple by Ogunsanya in the second quarter. Bolingbrook, however, responded with a 12-0 run before the Kits interrupted that surge on Ojala’s drive to the basket.

Pratt registered eight points in the third quarter to help keep the contest close. The losers shot 47 percent, including 13-of-29 from 3-point range. But Bolingbrook was even better, converting 59 percent of their shots behind T.J. Williams (18 points), a transfer from Glenbard West, and Brady Pettigrew (17), Trey Brost (12), Elijah Anderson (11), and Mason Williams (11).

“We were minus some guys tonight and we need to learn lessons from this one for when we’re back at full strength,” Ellis added. “There are certain things we have to do (on the court) all of the time, not just some of the time. Our agenda has to be to do the right things all the time, and that’s not easy.”

Evanston will travel to Glenbrook North on Tuesday for a makeup game with the Spartans and a chance to clinch the Central Suburban League South division championship for the second year in a row. The unbeaten Wildkits lead the Spartans by two games in the standings, with New Trier three games behind.