Wildkits Roll Over Niles West, 72-52

Evanston’s basketball team did more than just survive when Vito Rocca missed five games with an injury.

But now that Rocca’s back on track physically, the Wildkits are a better team.

Playing “through” the 6-foot-6 junior efficiently on offense for the first time since he returned to the starting lineup, Evanston rolled to a 72-52 victory over Niles West Wednesday in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Evanston Regional tournament at Beardsley Gymnasium.

The Wildkits, now 25-6 on the season, will face Niles North for the third time this season in the regional championship game at 7 p.m, Friday. The Vikings advanced with a tougher-than-expected 67-62 win against Maine South.

Even though no high school coach in the state of Illinois has embraced analytics and statistics more than ETHS head coach Mike Ellis, there’s no real way to quantify statistically just what Rocca’s basketball IQ, passing ability and unselfishness on the court brings to the table.

Coaches in the Central Suburban League South division recognized Rocca for those intangibles when they named him “Player of the Year”, although of course the fact that he leads the Kits in scoring and rebounding this season didn’t hurt his cause.

All Ellis knows is the more touches for Rocca, the better off his squad is. He totaled nine points and seven assists in Wednesday’s one-sided win and helped the winners shoot 64 percent (29-of-45) from the floor.

The Wildkits whipped West for the second time this season as Dion Lane Jr. (15 points) and Timi Ogunsanya (11 points) reached double figures in limited playing time. A total of 12 different ETHS players scored Wednesday, and only a whopping 11 turnovers committed by the reserves in the fourth quarter kept the score as close as the final 20-point margin.

And speaking of limited playing time, Rocca’s seven assists came in just 16 minutes on the court.

“What happens is that when Vito has the ball, all 10 eyes (of the opposing players) are on him for what he can do,” said Ellis. “What he does allows other people (his teammates) to get lost. And then, he finds them.

“When Vito gets more touches, we’re much more efficient on offense. We had 18 assists tonight on 29 baskets. We shared the ball well --- the ball was in everyone’s hands evenly, I felt --- and it was great to see the balance we played with tonight.”

Rocca, the team’s only returning regular from last year’s Final Four run, made certain the Wildkits started the “second season” strong by stashing in six points in the first quarter as the hosts broke out to an 18-5 advantage. It was Evanston’s best start in the past month.

“We’ve talked a lot about being focused, and tonight we just didn’t talk about it, we did it,” added the ETHS coach. “We really emphasized trying to make plays off the ball defensively. A lot of guys stepped up and made those kinds of plays tonight. We came out with intent, and I definitely like to see that.

“25 wins? My first thought is that it’s our first win. Right now, we’re 1-0.”

The No. 2 seed in the Loyola Academy Sectional grouping outscored the Wolves (10-21) 27-11 in the second period, Evanston carved up West’s defense, converting 10-of-13 field goal attempts, as Ogunsanya fired in three consecutive 3-point shots on his way to an 11-point period and Lane contributed nine points and a couple of rebounds, too. Evanston led 45-19 at halftime.

Ellis dug deeper into his bench in the second half and the Kits couldn’t quite get to a “running clock” slaughter rule scenario in the fourth quarter, unable to stretch the lead to the required 30 points. Reserves Miles Ross, Dillon Pompey, Matt Gilroy, Desi Israelite and Mehki Collins each netted baskets in the final period when they weren’t turning the ball over.

Evanston earned a rematch against a Niles North squad that lost to the Kits twice during the regular season, by margins of 80-64 and 72-70. Winner of that Friday contest will advance to the sectional semifinals at Loyola next Wednesday.