Senioritis Strikes, And Kits Can't Cope In 42-39 Loss

Difficult as it might to be to describe the symptoms of senioritis --- an ailment that often affects high school athletic teams in the spring when graduation is near --- Evanston’s head basketball coach recognizes it when he sees it.

So Mike Ellis decided to shake up his lineup and bench most of his seniors for Tuesday’s non-conference date with Carmel Catholic of Mundelein.

And even when the seniors had a chance to get back in the coach’s good graces, they couldn’t pull off a last second comeback and stumbled to a 42-39 defeat.

The loss to a 3-7 Carmel team in front of a disappointed Beardsley Gymnasium crowd dropped the Kits to 7-3 on the season. Evanston learned a hard lesson Tuesday and will have to regroup in time for Friday’s home date against Maine South.

Evanston misfired on its last 3 field goal attempts --- any one of which could have tied the game or given the hosts the lead --- and shot just 31 percent from the floor. Brandon Watson, the only senior who started the contest, threw up an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer that was off target.

Ellis’ decision came just 72 hours after the veteran coach had praised the seniors for their critical contributions to Saturday’s shootout win over Marian Catholic.

“We didn’t play with any type of sustainability, at both ends of the floor,” Ellis said. “Our seniors have senioritis --- and it’s December 12th. They’re not in tune with the program right now, and that’s all I want to say about it.

“We had a good look off a good action on that last 3 attempt (by junior Ian Peters with 45 seconds remaining). Ian was only 1-for-4 at that point, but based on the summer and the rest of the season, I have confidence in him to make an open 3. It just didn’t fall.

“Brandon needed to get his feet set and not take a running 3 there at the end. Our shooting has let us down in all of our losses and that means we need to spend extra time in the gym shooting. We need to put in more work on our shots.”

Evanston converted 14-of-45 shots overall and was just 4-of-22 from 3-point range. Senior Morgan Brown netted all 9 of his points in the third quarter to pace the Wildkits. Leading scorer Theo Rocca fouled out with 73 seconds left in the contest and tallied just 7 points, half his season average.

The Corsairs were sparked by guard Kaleb Jackson’s 20 points and shot exactly 50 percent (15-of-30) from the floor.

Ellis’ dissatisfaction with the upperclassmen was apparent once the starting lineup was announced. Sophomore Monte Dillard Jr, who had only played in two varsity games up until Tuesday, started in the post and did contribute 4 points and 5 rebounds , all in the first half.

The Wildkits trailed 22-19 at halftime, unable to find any offensive flow despite numerous substitutions by Ellis. Brown’s 9-point splurge in the third period helped the Kits pull even at 32-all entering the fourth quarter.

The Corsairs counted 3-point shots by Jackson and Ethan Matz to take control back, up 41-37 midway through the quarter, and held on from there.

Peters’ 3-point try rimmed out in the final minute, but the hosts got possession back only to see Brown miss a jump hook in the lane with 12 seconds left on the clock. Jackson then split a pair of free throws for the final margin.

“We settled for a lot of 3s in that first half,” Ellis added. “And we shot 5 or 6 airballs. We didn’t take advantage by getting the ball in the paint when they (Carmel) went with a small lineup. We didn’t make them pay.”