Most high school basketball teams are really only paying lip service to the philosophy of trusting “everyone” on the squad to produce coming off the bench.
They’re usually only talking about the first 7 or 8 guys in the rotation, at most.
That’s what makes Evanston’s season unique. The Wildkits have all embraced the idea that TEAM means just that, down to the last player on the bench.
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Take Friday night’s Class 4A regional championship game at Highland Park, for example. The Kits ended up counting on recently promoted sophomore Tate Schroeder to jump start a sputtering offense on their way to a 64-32 triumph that sent them into next week’s Class 4A sectional tournament at New Trier.
That’s the same Tate Schroeder who spent the last three months excelling for the ETHS sophomore team --- wondering when various public address announcers would decide to pronounce his last name correctly --- and working on his game while practicing daily with the varsity.
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His name probably didn’t even appear on Highland Park’s pre-game scouting report. But the most important accomplishment for Schroeder might have been building trust with his older teammates.
Schroeder came off the bench to contribute 11 points, three rebounds and a blocked shot as one of three Wildkits to reach double figures as the Kits claimed their first regional crown since 2022.
Theo Rocca pumped in 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and younger brother Vito Rocca added 11 points and five boards for the winners. Evanston will take a 27-5 won-loss record into Tuesday’s 6 p.m. sectional semifinal against Lane Tech, which ended New Trier’s season with a 67-57 victory Friday.
Niles North and Loyola Academy will meet in the other semifinal next Wednesday. The title game is set for Friday at 6 p.m.
A little trust can take a team a long way. That’s one of the lessons the 6-foot-4 Schroeder has learned while working his way onto the postseason roster.
He sank a pair of 3-point shots in the second quarter --- one from the left wing and another from deep in the left corner on an inbounds play --- and pushed Evanston’s lead from 16-11 to 23-11 by midway through the period.
The Wildkit defense didn’t allow the hosts a single field goal in the quarter and Evanston’s lead ballooned in every quarter after that 26-13 halftime advantage.
“The coaches have all tried to set me up for success, and I got put in a good situation by the coaches and by my teammates tonight,” said Schroeder. “I was able to execute when I got the ball.
“We all care for each other so much on this team and everything we’ve gone through this year is the reason we’re successful now. Tonight I just tried to give the team a little momentum, and after I hit those shots, we turned it around and really got going.
“The coaches are always telling me how great I can be (as a player), and with their support I was able to fit in with the varsity guys. We put in a ton of work (together) in practice. I didn’t find out until after I had a good game against New Trier the second time (on the sophomore level) that they were going to bring me up for the playoffs, so they put me in a good situation.”
Schroeder’s rise in the pecking order is due partly to an injury that has sidelined sixth man Ben Ojala for the past two games. Ojala suffered a broken finger on his non-shooting hand in the final regular season contest but is expected to return for the sectional tourney.
“Our shots weren’t falling, so when Tate hit those two 3s that was huge for us,” noted Theo Rocca, a senior co-captain. “Tate’s been working hard with us every day in practice, and that’s when you build trust. He’s always in to shoot early in the mornings and he works as hard as anyone on the team. It shows you just how deep a team we really are.”
“At that point in the game, our guys were looking for the right opportunities to make plays and they were sharing the ball really well,” said Evanston head coach Mike Ellis, “but sometimes they’re TOO unselfish.
“Tate’s strength showed through when we put him in. He’s smart enough and aggressive enough to hunt for shots, and the other guys trusted his best skill set (shooting) and got him the ball. They weren’t afraid to find him in a big spot. He’s proved himself over and over in 80 practices this year.
“We’ve seen huge growth from Tate this season. He’s taken advantage of every opportunity every week to get better. We have confidence in all of our guys and that’s one benefit of the bond our team has. They don’t want to let the other guys down.”
On defense, the Wildkits turned in another rock solid performance that limited Highland Park (21-11), the No. 7 sectional seed, to just 22 percent shooting (9-of-40) on their home court.
With ETHS senior Kaidan Chatham hounding him almost every step on the night, the Giants’ all-time leading scorer in program history, Simon Moschin, converted only 3-of-17 field goal attempts. Moschin had registered 32 points in the regional opener but missed his first nine shots from the floor with Chatham --- and sometimes Ian Peters --- close by.
Chatham also contributed nine points plus game-highs in rebounds (seven) and assists (five).
“Moschin scored their first 20 points the other night, so we knew he could play,” Ellis said. “I thought Kaidan Chatham did a phenomenal job on defense. Kaidan was in his pocket all night.
Two years without a regional plaque is too long if you ask Rocca, who enjoyed cutting down the nets as part of the traditional championship celebration.
“I’d like to start a collection of these. This is my first net because I’ve never won a regional before,” Rocca explained. “Getting more of these is the goal now.
“We knew in the first quarter that was not the kind of defense we wanted to play, and we knew we had to turn it up in the second quarter. But winning the regional is not the end goal. We think we can go much further, and this is just a step to where we want to go.”
