Evanston Balance Puts The Hurt On Deerfield

Watching the game film from a December loss to Deerfield was a painful experience for Evanston senior Theo Rocca.

But in the rematch Friday night at Beardsley Gymnasium, it was the Wildkits who put the hurt on the Warriors.

This time the Kits didn’t miss 18 straight field goal attempts. This time, ETHS shot 47 percent from the floor and slaughtered Deerfield 60-34 in a Central Suburban League South division blowout.

The turnaround from a six-point loss on the road to a running clock victory at home didn’t necessarily fall into the “payback” category for the winners, who improved to 18-3 overall and 5-1 in the CSL South.

Yet the satisfied looks on the faces of the ETHS players and coaching staff spoke volumes about the opportunity to make up for what could be regarded as the only “fluke” loss they’ve suffered so far.

Seniors Kaidan Chatham (15 points, 2 steals), Rocca (14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) and George Richardson (11 points) took turns lighting up the Deerfield defense in another display of the variety of ETHS weapons on offense that few teams in the state of Illinois can match.

The Wildkits will get another chance to show their balance and versatility against the state’s best again on the road Saturday. They’ll tackle Metamora, ranked 8th in the latest Class 3A Associated Press state poll, at the Redbird Shootout at 4:30 p.m. in central Illinois, and then finish out the January portion of the schedule next weekend against toughies New Trier and Benet Academy.

Rocca, a team co-captain, noted that Friday’s victory was definitely a step forward. And even though the senior forward still leads the squad in scoring, like he did as a junior, the share-the-load philosophy that has been a feature of the program offensively ever since Mike Ellis took over as head coach is what Rocca prefers.

“It hurt me to watch that (Deerfield) film,” said Rocca. “That loss was a loss that really didn’t represent us as a team. That’s not the standard we want to play at. That wasn’t us.

“January is a huge month for us and we’ve gotten a lot better. Tonight wasn’t about payback, it was about getting back to the standard we’re used to playing at. It’s all about us as a team. This team is in the gym working hard every day in practice because we know that’s when you win games.

“There is a little less pressure on me to put the ball in the basket this year. We all of these weapons, instead we just want to get the best shot possible every time. That’s what makes us so good as a team. And it’s a lot of fun to go out and play like that.”

“To me, this would be a hard team to cover,” said Ellis when asked how he’d prepare a scouting report against his own team. “Any one of our guys can step up at any time, and that’s always been the intent of our program. Some others have one or two guys who can score 20 points a game, but we’ll play the game 5-on-5, not 2-on-5. That’s intentional.

“When I’m watching our film I can usually count on one hand the number of bad shots we take. We really shared the ball well again tonight (17 assists on 24 field goals). I just love the unselfishness of this team. These guys all recognize situations like we had tonight, when Kaidan got hot in the first quarter, and when something like that happens all 10 eyes of the defense are on one guy, they lose the other players and then those guys have the opportunity to get loose.”

Chatham poured in 9 points in the first period, then let George (Richardson) do it in the second quarter when he stashed in 8 points of his own. Then it was Rocca’s turn with 6 points in the third stanza when the Wildkits pulled away to a 50-27 advantage.

Freshman Ben Ojala’s third 3-point basket of the game put the running clock in perpetual motion with five minutes still left in the final period. He finished with 9 points for the winners, who converted 24-of-51 field goal attempts, including 12-of-31 marksmanship from 3-point range as a team.

Deerfield, now 14-7 and 4-3 in CSL South play, was paced by 6-foot-8 Jacob Pollack with 14 points and 3 blocked shots. He sank 6-of-10 shots from the floor but the rest of the Warriors only mustered a combined seven baskets.

“We’ve been playing well at both ends of the floor, and we’re playing a lot smarter,” Ellis praised. “We’ve really made some strides since coming back from the Centralia tournament. And it’s been collective growth, not just one single player. I think the chemistry on this team is very special.

“The first time we played Deerfield we didn’t play with intensity. I know that our guys have wanted this one for awhile now. We didn’t put our best foot forward the first time.”