Fans of Evanston basketball who follow the team on the National Federation of High Schools online computer video network might have suffered the shock of their lives if they waited until the third quarter to tune in Saturday afternoon.
A computer glitch somewhere indicated on the scoreboard at the bottom of the screen that a drive to the basket by Timi Ogunsanya boosted Evanston’s advantage over De La Salle to an incredible 160-17 --- not the actual score, which was 60-17.
Maybe the computer was just that impressed by a team ranked 8th in the state of Illinois in the latest Class 4A Associated Press rankings. That triple digit number remained in place for the rest of the contest as the Wildkits scored their second straight slaughter rule victory --- this one by a 64-27 margin, not 164 to 27 --- and improved to 23-4 on the season.
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The numbers added up to another impressive performance, especially from the 3-point shooting stripe. The visitors had no trouble adjusting to the shooting background at the Chicago school’s cavernous fieldhouse and knocked down 12-of-26 3-point field goal attempts in the one-sided win.
Hot starts by Theo Rocca (19 points) and freshman Ben Ojala (14 points) left no doubt about the outcome for an Evanston squad that is building momentum toward a deep state playoff push. The winners shot 51 percent overall (22-of-43) and piled up 18 assists on 22 field goals in another unselfish display of team basketball.
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Head coach Mike Ellis wasn’t surprised that the Kits put the ball in the basket with such regularity despite the unfamiliar surroundings.
“I’m not someone who believes in that stuff about shooting backgrounds,” Ellis explained. “These kids play in all kinds of ‘barns’ like this in AAU ball, where there are four courts in one place. I said to them before the game that it feels just like being back at Riverside-Brookfield’s fieldhouse in the summer and they should all feel real good about that. This is a nice set-up here and I really like it as an all-purpose facility.
“Early on we had a couple of guys in Theo and Ben who felt really good about their shots today, and I wasn’t surprised by that. That’s what I see from them every day in practice.
“I liked our effort today (compared to Friday’s home win over Glenbrook South) a lot better. They realize that this is the time of year when you have to show up ready to play every night.
Between them, Rocca and Ojala took advantage of the shooting space allowed by the Meteors’ defense with devastating effect. They combined for six treys in the first period and there was a definite need for a heat check on Ojala, who didn’t get in the game until the last two minutes of the quarter but fired in four in a row from long range to spark the visitors to a 24-6 lead.
De La Salle (14-13 overall) fell behind 44-13 at halftime and only shot 26 percent (9-of-35) from the floor. Four of those field goals came in the fourth quarter when the ETHS starters were packing up for the bus ride home.
