Kits Just Miss Century Mark In Seventh Straight Win

Evanston’s basketball team hasn’t scored 100 points in a game since Mike Ellis took over as head coach.

But the Wildkits came close Tuesday night at Beardsley Gym.

Reserves Miles Ross and Tristan Wilcox both missed 3-point shots in the final minute of play and that kept the Kits under the century mark as they routed Bulls Prep 99-28 for their seventh straight victory.

The musical bean bag event at halftime has become more competitive than some of the games ETHS has won while building that record to 7-0 to start the season. Tuesday, every single player scored at least three points and even a running clock in the fourth quarter couldn’t slow the hosts down much.

Ellis has said in the past that no team of his would ever score 100 because he’s not interested in running up the score on an overmatched foe like the Bulls, who earlier this season lost by 51 points to New Trier (82-31) and by 60 points to Loyola Academy (75-15). But the use of a 35-second shot clock for the non-conference matchup kept the tempo upbeat, and Bulls Prep (2-6 overall) kept jacking up shots and turning the ball over (a total of 32 times) to help the hosts switch to the highest gear in their transition game.

Evanston’s starters only played six minutes in the first quarter. Senior guard Ian Peters tallied 10 points in that period, and finished as the squad’s second leading scorer behind Wilcox (13 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds). Dion Lane netted 9 points off the bench as Evanston shot 54 percent (40-of-74) from the field.

“I’m impartial,” said Ellis when he was asked if he was rooting for one of those late 3-point shots to fall to help the winners surpass 100 points. “It doesn’t make us a great team if we score 100 points. It’s an irrelevant feat.

“When a game (score) gets away from you like that, you have to treat it like it’s summer in the park and give everyone a chance to score. You don’t taunt the other team by pulling the ball out (and not shooting). You just give your other players (deeper on the bench) more minutes and you continue to play. You don’t disrespect the game.

“No matter how many points we’ve been winning our games by, we’re still just an average, middle of the pack team in our conference. We didn’t play well against Glenbrook North and we’re just in the middle of the pack. That’s what I believe, and I hope the players believe that, too.”

That’s a hard sell for the coach following another blowout win.

Evanston ran out to a 34-2 lead after the first quarter and built the advantage to 46-2 on a 3-point bucket by Lane before the Bulls finally scored again in the second quarter. They pushed the lead to 61-11 at halftime and led 83-19 after three quarters.

Ellis pointed out that his starting unit of Peters, George Richardson, Kaidan Chatham, Theo Rocca and Vito Rocca didn’t just set the tone on the court with that first quarter explosion, but praised that group for the way they stayed engaged on the bench.

“Coach Mayne (assistant coach Necus Mayne) mentioned after the game how great the starters played and how they brought the energy and showed you can be in the game even when you’re on the bench,” Ellis explained. “We need them all, starters and reserves, to be connected and they did a great job of that all night long.”

Bulls Prep shot just 29 percent (9-of-31) from the floor and only got off 10 shot attempts in the first half. The losers were led by Mekhi Slaughter with 14 points.

Evanston will seek its second Central Suburban League South division win on Thursday at Deerfield. The Wildkits don’t have a game on Friday, and will play Riverside-Brookfield Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Team Rose Shootout hosted by Mount Carmel.