Richardson Rises To Occasion In Rivalry Win

George Richardson learned this week just how special the Evanston-New Trier basketball rivalry is.

“The atmosphere at school was really different. Every day when I walked into the building, the security guards were asking me if we were going to get New Trier,” said the senior who transferred into ETHS this fall. “Other students were talking to me about the game. I had teachers asking me if we were going to kick New Trier’s (butt).

“Obviously, we want to win every game. We didn’t have a rivalry like this at DePaul (Prep). To be honest, I was kind of surprised there was that much talk about this game. They talked it up a lot. It’s a really cool feeling to play in an environment like this. But once we got in the (pregame) huddle, I said let’s just play together --- and get a win together. And we executed that as a team.”

Richardson made sure the Wildkits claimed bragging rights in the first game of this year’s home and home series between the two neighbors. The 6-foot-7 senior stashed in a career-high 21 points and Evanston’s defense held down New Trier’s 3-point shooters in a 62-52 Central Suburban League South division triumph in Winnetka.

In front of a capacity crowd, Richardson rose to the occasion right from the start. He scored 12 points in the first period as the visitors built a 23-12 lead and went on to earn their second straight win in New Trier’s new gymnasium. The Kits (19-4 overall) pulled into a first place tie in the conference standings with the losers, with the rematch set for February 11th likely to decide the conference championship.

Richardson shared the scoring spotlight with teammates Theo Rocca (11 points), Vito Rocca (10 points, 6 rebounds) and Kaidan Chatham (10 points, 4 assists) as Evanston shot 51 percent (22-of-43) from the floor.

At the defensive end of the floor, the Wildkits realized their goal of limiting New Trier’s hot shot trio of guards --- Chris Kirkpatrick, Colby Smith and Danny Houlihan --- under 40 points combined.

New Trier (18-7) got 19 points from Kirkpatrick, 14 from Smith and five from Houlihan. Kirkpatrick only scored one basket in the second half --- after Smith only netted one field goal in the first half --- and Houlihan was never a factor.

“I love winning as a team, and no individual player won that game tonight. Three people can’t beat 15 people,” Richardson added. “With all the fans here and everything, it did feel good. This is probably the most special win we’ve had.”

He wouldn’t get an argument from Evanston head coach Mike Ellis, whose team played flawless offensive basketball to set the tone in the first four minutes of the contest. The Wildkits converted their first seven field goal attempts in a row with crisp passing and the kind of execution that coaches dream of.

“We did a great job of sharing the ball in that first quarter,” Ellis declared. “We had good ball movement and we did a good job of taking what their defense gave us. When everyone gets involved early (on offense) like that, that gives everyone a good feeling and you could feel the confidence growing from there.

“I’m really impressed with the way George and Vito played inside tonight. And the very last thing I told our guys tonight was that it doesn’t matter if we’re playing in front of 10,000 people or 10 people, we’re really playing for an audience of 15 (teammates). I think that had a little bit to do with the way they played off each other at the start. They care about each other, and not where we are in the all-time series with New Trier and not what happened before they were even alive.”

Evanston’s win stretched the advantage to 124 victories for the Wildkits to 100 for the Trevians in the all-time series between the two rivals.

“I just love our versatility and the way our guys play through each other,” Ellis said. “We had that good start, but we knew that you’re not going to beat a team as good as New Trier going away on their home court. We knew they’d make some runs, and we just said make the hustle plays and that’s what will stop their momentum.”

New Trier closed to within 38-34 midway through the third quarter on a 16-footer jump shot by Smith and the home crowd started to sense a shift in the momentum. Evanston’s response? A drive down the middle for a lay-in by Chatham, and a 3-point basket from the corner by Ian Peters --- his only bucket of the game --- as the visitors restored order and built the lead back to 47-39 entering the final period.

A Kirkpatrick 3-pointer with 2 minutes, 20 seconds left kept the outcome still in doubt at 52-47. From there, ETHS converted six straight free throws as Peters, Richardson and Theo Rocca each swished a pair.

“New Trier started out in a man-to-man, went to that 2-3 zone, and our interior passing took them right out of that zone,” Ellis pointed out. “I thought that was one of the huge keys to the game for us. We didn’t just settle for 3s when they changed defenses. We didn’t skip a beat.

“They only had six 3-pointers against us (6-of-16 from beyond the stripe), so we canceled each other out there. They didn’t get 3-ball crazy against us.”