Kits Take Down No. 7 Ranked Benet, 59-55

When asked to remember the last time Evanston’s basketball team enjoyed a better weekend on the court, veteran head coach Mike Ellis didn’t hesitate.

“Peoria, I guess,” said the coach who led the Wildkits to back-to-back Final Four finishes in 2018 and 2019 when the Illinois High School Association state finals were held at that location.

Evanston has earned plenty of big wins since then, usually playing one of the toughest big school schedules in the state. But what the current Kits accomplished in a span of less than 24 hours on Friday and Saturday should make any fan hoping to handicap the outcome of this year’s Illinois state tournament sit up and take notice.

After dumping New Trier Friday on the road, Evanston edged a Benet Academy team ranked 7th in the state in Class 4A by grinding out a 59-55 decision Saturday at the War On The Shore shootout event held at Loyola Academy.

The Wildkits chopped down a perennial state power that this year features a 7-foot-2 and a 6-9 starter and earned their 20th win of the season. Senior forward Theo Rocca, quiet in the first half, finished with 18 points to make the difference in a back-and-forth game that was a one-possession difference for almost all of the 32 minutes on the clock.

The triumph over New Trier? That was for bragging rights, a possible step to a No. 1 ranking when the sectional seeds are voted on in a couple of weeks, and kept the Kits’ hope of a conference championship alive.

But Saturday’s win was almost as special for a team that might not be the most talented team in the state, but week in and week out has played some of the smartest basketball teen-agers can play.

With the outcome seemingly hinging on every single possession, Evanston challenged its bigger foe at crucial moments and scored almost half (28 points) of its point total in the paint. The winners also outrebounded the taller Redwings 31-19.

Refusing to back down inside, ETHS opened up just enough breathing room early in the fourth quarter with fearless forays to the rim. First sophomore Vito Rocca (six points, five rebounds) drove through the middle of the Benet defense for a lay-in, and on the next possession, Kaidan Chatham (12 points, eight rebounds) went right at 7-2 Colin Stack and scored over him to boost Evanston to its biggest lead at 46-42 at that point of the second half.

There were still six minutes remaining in the contest. But Theo Rocca supplied the closing touch with consecutive 3-point shots from way beyond the stripe and netted nine points down the stretch to take down one of the state’s top teams.

“We played smarter than they did. We had twice as many turnovers as Benet, but we made up for it on the boards,” said Ellis. “We got second and third chances, and those were the opportunities that really saved us.

“We always try for balance (on offense) because we don’t want to just rely on 3-pointers. We have to play well in the paint, too, to be at our best as a team and they’re doing a nice job understanding that. We’ve done a nice job of involving all five guys on offense and we have a lot of successful possessions where the defender loses his man or is surprised by a screen. The way we share the ball and the way we move, there are opportunities away from the ball and that’s how we got penetration to the basket against even a bigger team.”

The 7-2 Stack finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots but disappeared in the second half while point guard Blake Fagbemi tried to rally the Redwings all by himself. Stack only attempted three field goals in the second half. Fagbemi threw up 18 shots (7-of-18 from the floor) and did finish with a game-high 18 points for the losers.

Benet, which fell to 21-5 overall, also got 11 points from Jayden Wright.

Evanston (20-4) trailed 31-30 at halftime as the elder Rocca eased into the flow --- as he often does despite being the team’s leading scorer on the season --- while his teammates were carrying the load offensively.

The senior standout got a wakeup call at halftime, however.

“We challenged Theo at halftime,” Ellis said. “At halftime he’d taken three shots and had three turnovers. He felt like he let the team down a little bit in the first half and we weren’t going to win with that formula. He had a great second half --- we don’t win without that.”

Rocca recognized that he had to step up over the last two quarters.

“We all knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game,” he said. “It was a big test for us, to know just where we stand in the state. We all wanted a big win today. People (experts who craft the rankings) have given us a little attention, but we hadn’t turned enough heads yet to get the attention we deserve. We had to do that by winning a close game.

“My teammates said they needed me to produce more. I should have been more aggressive in the first half. Our experience in close games is helping us a lot now because we’ve been in so many games like this. And we knew we couldn’t beat a team that good by shying away from their size. We had to stay aggressive.”

Rocca’s confidence seemed to grow as the 35-second shot clock in use for the shootout continued to click away. With ETHS nursing a 46-45 lead, he stepped back to nail a 20-footer with 3:39 left in the game, and on the next trip down the floor connected from 22 feet to boost the lead to 52-45.

The 6-5 senior also sank three free throws in the last 18 seconds to secure the victory.