With a berth in the championship basketball game at stake at the 35th annual Fenton Thanksgiving Tournament, Evanston’s defense didn’t exactly rise to the occasion Friday night.
Rolling Meadows burned the Wildkits for 38 points in the second half --- shooting 12-of-16 from the field --- and scored a 64-56 triumph in a battle of unbeatens in pool play.
The Mustangs advanced to Saturday’s title game against Fenton, which downed Palatine Fremd 48-38 in the other pool. Evanston will meet Fremd Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the third place contest.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
You couldn’t blame a post-Thanksgiving hangover for the less-than-stiff defense put up by the Wildkits. They also surrendered 22 points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s win over Wheaton Warrenville South, and to describe Evanston head coach Mike Ellis as “disturbed” by that second half trend would definitely be an understatement.
Evanston suffered its first defeat despite a career-best 19 points from senior Antoine Thomas, plus 15 from Morgan Brown and 13 from Theo Rocca. Rolling Meadows was paced by junior Ian Miletic’s 25 points.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The two teams are scheduled to meet in a nonconference game later this season --- January 13th at Beardsley Gym --- and Ellis has to hope that by then his young and inexperienced squad can develop the toughness required to take a little more pride in how they defend the player in front of them.
The Evanston coach has always emphasized defense since taking over the program and that made Friday’s performance tough to watch. The winners converted 66 percent of their field goal attempts on the night.
“Tonight was definitely a step back for us,” Ellis declared. “And it wasn’t a team breakdown on defense. We had a number of 1-on-1 breakdowns. It was just a matter of us losing those 1-on-1 challenges. They repeatedly beat us in 1-on-1 situations.
“I don’t know how a team could ever lose shooting 66 percent against you. We really had a letdown in the second half, and for the second game in a row. We need to be more solid (on defense) on the basketball.”
There was no stopping Miletic, who could develop into one of the top players in Illinois by next season. The 6-foot-7 southpaw stashed in 9-of-12 field goal tries, including three 3-point baskets, although he was contained when the Wildkits switched Thomas --- four inches smaller --- over to defend him off the bench. Miletic only scored 3 field goals in the second half when the Mustangs pulled away to a double digit lead.
On offense, Thomas sank 7-of-8 shots from the floor and displayed some rare range from the 3-point stripe, sinking all 3 of his attempts.
“Antoine played a phenomenal game tonight. If he hadn’t, we would have lost by 20,” Ellis pointed out. “He played so well at both ends of the floor. He had a big impact on the game and he was the reason we won a lot of possessions, both offensively and defensively.”
Evanston led for most of the first half, then let the lead slip away by mustering just one field goal in the last four minutes of the second quarter. Rolling Meadows ended the half on a 7-2 run and snatched the lead at 26-25 on a 3-point bucket by Ryan Meyer with just under a minute remaining.
A drive and layup by Thomas midway through the third quarter kept the Wildkits close, down only 37-35. Then the Mustangs rattled off 10 straight points --- 6 by Miletic --- and took control for good at 45-37.
Evanston never got closer than 5 points in the final period.
