Evanston’s basketball team turned in one of its worst stretches of basketball this season in the final two and a half minutes of the third quarter Friday night at Glenbrook North.
And it’s not like the best team in the Central Suburban League needed any help.
The Spartans dominated the final 10 minutes of the game and put a 65-38 beatdown on the Wildkits to maintain their perfect Central Suburban League South division record.
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GBN, now 16-4 overall and 6-0 in league play, rode a 27-point performance from point guard Josh Fridman and held the losers under 40 points for the second time this season. Evanston (15-8, 3-4 CSL South) shot only 3-of-21 from 3-point range and didn’t put a single player in double figures.
North didn’t skip a beat even without one of its top players in the lineup. Guard Sam Lappin is out with an injury, one reason the Spartans had stumbled into Friday’s matchup on a two-game losing skid with losses to Loyola Academy and Mount Carmel.
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They jumped on ETHS for a 9-0 lead to start the game and traded baskets with the visitors until the third quarter.
Evanston finally closed the gap to 37-30 on a pair of free throws by Tyler Dennis with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in the period. The next 150 seconds seemed like an eternity for Wildkit fans, as the losers missed 5 field goal attempts and turned the ball over 4 times in that span, including a pair of offensive fouls.
GBN led 44-30 after that, and outscored Evanston 21-8 in the fourth quarter to delight of the home crowd. Owen Giannoulias scored half of his total 18 points in the final period and Patrick Schaller, the Northwestern University football recruit, tallied 13 points.
Dennis delivered 9 points off the bench for Evanston and Theo Rocca added 8. Evanston shot 14-of-43, or 32 percent, from the floor compared to North’s 51 percent. The Spartans only turned the ball over a total of 6 times.
“We talked to them over and over about the fact that we had to be the aggressors tonight, but Glenbrook North was the aggressor. That’s what they beat us with tonight,” said Evanston head coach Mike Ellis. “We shot 3-for-21 on 3 pointers and you can’t win with that. When the ball finds your hands, you’ve got to make shots. And it’s not like those were desperation 3s, either.
“We came out too timid (falling behind 9-0 midway through the first quarter). They’re not an easy team to play against because they get into you defensively and make you earn your shots. We were stagnant offensively --- we didn’t really run anything --- and even when we did get the ball in the paint in the first quarter, we didn’t make them pay. You’ve got to make shots to beat that team.”
Evanston hosts Loyola Academy Tuesday in a doubleheader. The girls varsity game is set for a 5:30 p.m. start, with the boys varsity game to follow.
