Kits Cut Lane Tech Down To Size, Advance To Title Game

Bigger isn’t always better.

Evanston’s basketball team proved that point again Tuesday night, cutting Lane Tech down to size with relentless man-to-man defense in a 56-39 victory in the semifinals of the Class 4A New Trier Sectional tournament.

The Wildkits quieted the pre-game noise created by the presence of Lane’s 6-foot-9 Dalton Scantlebury, a Penn recruit, and 6-8 Zach Mazanowski with a dominant performance in every phase of the game and advanced to the sectional finals for the first time since 2020.

Wildkit fans don’t have fond memories of that season, because the state tournament was called off just one day before the sectional championship game due to the COVID-19 pandemic that cancelled the Illinois High School Association state tournament for the first time in history.

The most ardent supporters of the program would tell you that pandemic cost the Kits at least one state championship and possibly two.

But Evanston is playing like a team that is ready to crash the Final Four again. The Kits, now 28-5, will face either Niles North or Loyola Academy --- two teams they beat during the regular season --- in Friday’s 6 p.m. title game.

Evanston, the No. 1 seed, outrebounded the taller Champions 26-17, had more points in the paint by a 26-20 margin, and forced 17 turnovers while sending Lane to the sidelines with a final record of 20-12.

Lane had advanced by earning the first regional championship in school history but was no match for a focused ETHS squad that never lets up at the defensive end of the floor.

Scantlebury was limited to a total of four field goals by Evanston sophomore Vito Rocca, finishing with eight points, and Mazanowski scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.

The winners countered with a game-high 17 points from Theo Rocca, plus another sterling all-around performance from Kaidan Chatham with 12 points, a game-high eight rebounds and six assists.

If there’s a better defensive team still alive in the state of Illinois in the postseason, then the Wildkits are clearly on the short list with whoever that might be. Holding opposing teams to season low point totals has become the norm, to the point where head coach Mike Ellis might want to consider lowering the bar on the team goal of just permitting under 50 points per game.

“As long as we keep doing our thing like this, maybe he should think about lowering that goal,” said Vito Rocca. “We really take pride in our defense and we enjoy playing defense. It’s fun because not every team has what we have. Defense goes with the offense, so if you like playing offense you’ve got to like playing defense, too.

“We heard a lot about how big Lane was and their big guy (Scantlebury) is a great player, a Division I player. We all knew how big they were coming in, but our mindset was that we had to bring the battle to them, that we had to be more physical than they were.

“Against Scantlebury, the key was to outwork him a little if I could and stay in position against him. And my teammates were there to help if I got out of position. It was a team effort.”

“I thought our guys really came out focused on the defensive end,” Ellis said. “Their attention to detail on defense was great, because we didn’t want to get into a situation where we had no answers to their size.

“Our goal (on defense) is limiting the other team to 50 points it’s a mark we’re going to hit (on offense) each time out, no matter what pace the game is played at. This team has locked in on defense all year and it’s the strength of our team because it’s a combination of will, and knowledge. They’re smart out on the floor and they’re willing to do whatever it takes.

“We don’t have anyone on our team who is as big as Scantlebury with his length and physicality. Tonight we were mostly concerned with not giving them any second chances and they only had three offensive rebounds. That says a lot about the message delivered by our coaching staff, and received by our players.”

Lane Tech’s only leads of the night came at 2-0 and 5-4 in the first quarter. Evanston got on track offensively in the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds of the opening period behind George Richardson’s six points and four from Theo Rocca to pull ahead 14-7 by the first quarter break.

The Champions only mustered one field goal in the first five minutes of the second stanza, which ended with ETHS on top 27-15. The only thing close to adversity the Wildkits faced came in the third quarter when Lane’s Matt Szafoni attempted a lob pass to his 6-9 post teammate and actually threw the ball into the basket from 3-point range.

That “mistake” cut Lane’s deficit to 32-23 with 3:50 left on the clock. How did Evanston respond? With an 11-2 run that featured 3-point baskets by Jayden Rodriguez and Ben Ojala (back in action after missing two games with a broken finger), plus an old-fashioned 3-point play by Theo Rocca.

Scrappy senior guard Ian Peters also played a vital role in Evanston’s triumph, even though the box score showed the co-captain with just one point. He was, however, credited with three steals.

“I thought Ian was phenomenal tonight as our lead defender,” praised the Evanston coach. “They couldn’t get into a flow on offense because of Ian, and without fouling, too. They couldn’t break us down because he set the tone on defense.”