Kits Survive And Advance Without Sense Of Urgency

The postseason playoffs in the NBA are set up as best of 7 series, partly to assure that the best teams reach the finals.

There’s no such guarantee for the Original March Madness known as the Illinois High School Association state basketball tournament.

One-and-done is the format for the high school “second season” and an Evanston team that has reached the state’s Final Four in back-to-back seasons almost learned that lesson the hard way Tuesday night at the Class 4A Maine East Regional tournament.

Past success is no guarantee of future success and the fact the Wildkits eliminated Hoffman Estates by a 58-45 margin to survive and advance to Friday’s championship game was overshadowed by an obvious lack of urgency on the part of the winners.

Evanston, now 27-4, shot 3-for-17 from the field in the first quarter and didn’t pull away from the Hawks (final record of 9-19) until late in the third quarter. Juniors Jaylin Gibson (13 points, 10 rebounds, 6 steals, 6 assists) and Blake Peters (20 points, 4 steals) led a second half surge for the Kits, who will face either New Trier or Glenbrook North in Friday’s title game at 7 p.m.

ETHS owns a pair of regular season wins against both possible foes, but didn’t exactly build any postseason momentum with Tuesday’s performance.

“We approached this game tonight like it was the NBA Finals, like if we lost we’d just have to come back and win Game 2,” said Evanston head coach Mike Ellis. “But this is more like a Game 7 every night in the high school playoffs.

“That’s what made the way we played tonight a little frustrating. We didn’t play with any sense of urgency. There were a lot of 50-50 balls that we didn’t come up with, and the sense of urgency was lacking. We were out there just playing, not playing to win, and we can’t make excuses for that. This is the time of year where you look in the mirror and say how can we play to win?

“Hoffman Estates was the aggressor in the first half and we settled for quick shots. We flipped that in the second half.”

Gibson, who picked up 2 personal fouls in the first half and netted just 2 points, came alive in the third quarter. His tenacity at both ends of the floor led to an 8-point outburst in the period, with 6 of those points coming at the free throw line. Peters added 4 free throws of his own after the Wildkits didn’t attempt a single free throw in the first half but shot 5-of-19 from 3-point range.

Gibson’s steal for a layup, and a transition dunk by Kyle Wilson (6 points, 8 rebounds) helped the winners close out the quarter with a 6-0 run. They stretched the lead to 41-30 against a Hawks’ team that hasn’t exactly been potent on offense this winter.

Evanston took its biggest lead at 52-38 midway through the fourth quarter on Itchy Holden’s bucket in the lane, then spread the floor for the last 4 minutes and eased into the title game.

For the losers, Jevin Dobbins showed the way with 15 points and Nahum Smith-Hernandez chalked up 12.