Kits Lose Focus, Still Move Into Conference Lead

Maybe Evanston’s basketball team was finally due for a letdown following a grueling schedule of games in January, most of them on the road.

But ask Wildkit co-captains Theo Rocca and Ian Peters and they’d be quick to admit that they lost their focus as a team Friday night against Glenbrook South.

Just a couple of days after earning the No. 8 ranking in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll, the Wildkits didn’t exactly look the part of a state contender while dispatching GBS 47-30 at Beardsley Gymnasium.

Evanston did manage to keep its focus on defense, holding the losers to 36 percent shooting from the floor --- when the offensively challenged Titans bothered to shoot at all. GBS (14-12 overall, 4-5 Central Suburban League South division) only got off 33 field goal attempts in the 32-minute contest.

And when the Wildkits wake up Saturday morning they’ll discover that they’re all alone on top of the conference standings with two games left. New Trier’s upset loss to Glenbrook North Friday night dropped the Trevians a game behind the Kits, and Evanston closes out the conference schedule at home next Tuesday against New Trier and on the road next Friday at Maine South.

Evanston (22-4 overall, 7-1 conference) didn’t take GBS seriously enough, according to senior leaders Rocca and Peters. That’s a surprise considering that the Titans led ETHS after three quarters when the two teams met in Glenview a month ago, before the Kits rallied for a victory in two overtimes.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

“Our preparation as a team just wasn’t good enough,” Rocca said. “We didn’t treat this game like the other games, and that just can’t be the case. It’s all about our mindset as a team. We can’t have an off and on switch, we have to keep coming right at you the whole time.

“After beating New Trier and the No. 8 team in the state (then) Benet last weekend, I don’t think we looked like a top 10 in the state team tonight.”

Rocca scored just six points --- none in the first half --- and it was generally a night where no one helped his individual season scoring average. George Richardson notched 10 points to lead ETHS, backed up by nine from Peters and seven from Vito Rocca.

Peters supplied some early offense with his aggressive takes from the 3-point stripe, nailing three 3-pointers in the first half as the Wildkits played well enough to lead 22-15 at the intermission. He also shared the primary defensive assignment with backcourt mate Kaidan Chatham as they combined to limit South’s only real scoring threat --- guard Anestis Hadjistamoulou --- to 12 points on 5-of-14 sniping from the field.

“I feel like it was hard for some of us to go from playing New Trier to the No. 8 team in the state, to GBS, which has a great team too,” Peters explained. “We had to play the same way we played against those teams and translate that against a team that some of us might have thought was not so great. We can’t just decide to play hard against a team if there’s a regional trophy or something like that at stake.

“I kinda felt good tonight shooting in warmups. I did miss my first three (attempt). Usually I judge my own performance on how I play on defense. I get nervous before games because I’m always guarding really good players and I don’t want to let my team down. If I’m crappy on defense, usually I’m crappy on offense, and vice versa.

“I just had it in my head to keep forcing him (Hadjistamoulou) left, left, left tonight. I just try to let my defense do the talking, and the team success will follow.”

Two free throws by Theo Rocca with 61 seconds left in the third quarter were offset by a late 3-point basket from South’s Hunter Thiel that kept the Titans within 31-21 entering the final period.

But sophomore Dion Lane Jr. came off the bench to knock down a pair of 3-point baskets from opposite corners at the start of the fourth quarter, and that effort helped the hosts outscore the losers 16-9 to secure the victory.

Evanston will play a non-conference game on Saturday at De La Salle in Chicago.