Huskies Earn Tough Win Over Downers North

Prior to facing host Downers Grove North in Thursday night's West Suburban Silver opener, Oak Park-River Forest had averaged 83 points per game in two of its first three 2010-11 matchups.

Downers North, however  managed to contain the Huskies' offensive juggernaut most of the evening—in fact, OPRF scored only 17 points in the first half.

A nice run at the outset of the third quarter, however, combined with some clutch free-throw shooting in the final eight minutes, enabled the Huskies to post a 53-48 victory.

Afterward, OPRF coach Matt Maloney credited the Trojans and his counterpart, DNG coach Jim Thomas, for carrying out their game plan.

"Jim Thomas does a great job at Downers North," Maloney said. "Whenever he plays us, his big thing that he tells his kids, 'If we keep the game in the 30s, it's theirs. If we keep it in the 40s, it's anyone's game.' He does not want it in the 60s.

"We preached that all week; it was a game goal, and they won the tempo back. We talked about that—that they're going to sag, they're going to take long possessions and we kind of fell into the trap.

"We couldn't get things going, especially when we got some bad fouls off the ball and made us had to switch some of the things we were going to do."

The unbeaten (4-0, 1-0) Huskies trailed most of the first half before Steve Ramsey swished a three-pointer from the baseline for OPRF's first lead at 17-15.

Oak Park appeared as if it was going to run the Trojans out of their own gym at the outset of the third quarter. The Huskies went on an 8-0 run, hitting their first four attempts to take a 25-15 lead.

However, OPRF got into a bit of foul trouble later in the quarter, and lost some momentum, allowing the Trojans (4-2, 0-1) to climb back in the game.

Downers North cut the Huskies' lead to five, 34-29, after scoring five straight points near the end of the quarter.

"We have some guys who are young and have to learn that we can't get those ticky-tack fouls," Maloney said. "It caused us to have to sit some guys after that run at the end of the third to make sure they didn't pick up their fourth in the third."

The Trojans got as close as four points (50-46) with 23 seconds to go, but Ka'Darryl Bell's free throw, along with two free throws from Josh Lang kept Downers North at bay.

The Huskies nailed 12 of 16 free throws during the final eight minutes. Bell, who led a balanced OPRF offense with 15 points, went 6 of 9 from the foul line, while Lang (eight points) converted 4 of 5. Prior to that, OPRF was only 1 of 5 through three quarters.

"We've shot 75 percent on the season which is great, but we missed a lot early in the game," Maloney said. "A lot of free throws and shots around the basket that would have given us more than 17 (points) at halftime. We were not happy with that first half."

Ramsey rifled in three treys and finished with 13 points. Brian Miller contributed 10 points.

"This was an ugly game," Maloney said. "Downers did everything they needed to do. We have a lot of work to do when teams try to slow us down. I was pleased that we were able to improve on our offensive game in the second half.

"We were attacking the basket and we were getting to the foul line. We got done with the first half only shooting three free throws. That's not like us."

The Huskies return to Downers Grove on Saturday night to face Downers South in a West Suburban Conference crossover game.

"That's going to be a real test," Maloney said.

Oak Park-River Forest 53, Downers North 48

Oak Park-River Forest—Butler 0 0-0 0, Banks 0 0-0 0, Millsap 0 0-0 0, Levin 1 2-4 4, Bell 4 6-9 15, Lang 2 4-5 8, Miller 5 0-1 10, Ramsey 5 0-0 13, Nesnidal 1 0-0 2, Cammon 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 13-21 53.

Downers North—Johnson 5 1-1 11, Wengren 5 6-7 19, Mahlke 2 3-4 7, Vogler 3 0-0 7, Mason 0 0-0 0, Grace 0 0-0 0, Sigerich 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 10-12 48.

Three-point field goals: OPRF 4 (Bell, Ramsey 3), Downers North 4 (Wengren 3, Vogler). Total fouls: OPRF 19, Downers North 20 (Grace fouled out). Turnovers: OPRF 9, Downers North 15.