A storied rivalry started out ugly for New Trier.
The Evanston Wildkits came out of the gates strong, going on a 10-0 run in the first quarter. The damage was done with only 4 minutes and 56 seconds left in the quarter, and Coach Scott Fricke was forced to call a timeout.
But from the timeout, New Trier emerged a different team. The Trevians responded with a 50-7 run, propelling them to a 70-39 blowout victory.
Fricke said that the team did not hang their heads but instead were motivated to battle back. “We did not panic. During the timeout, I told the guys to stick to our game plan, and that our defense needed to tighten up. I thought our defense was very suspect in the first three minutes, and we made the necessary adjustments from that point on earn the victory,” he said.
Junior guard Jordan Thomas, had 13 points in the game, including back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter.
“We knew Evanston would come ready to play, but to be honest, we weren’t really worried. During the timeout, the coaches just said [that we were] fine. We just tried to turn up our defensive intensity and we started moving the ball well, too. It was a really fun game tonight,” Thomas told CSL Insider.
The player of the night was senior forward Steven Cook, who scored 20 points while playing in only two-and-a-half quarters. With 70 points on the board, a lot of things were going right for New Trier. The Evanston defense could not keep up with us when we were aggressive and attacked. Any time we pressured them defensively and turned them over or got a stop, we would run the floor and get easy buckets on the other end,” Cook said.
The offensive onslaught gave New Trier its tenth win in a row, tying the longest win streak in school history. “We have won some big games lately against Saint Viator and Waukegan [but] the Evanston game is always one that we look forward to,” said Cook.
New Trier looks forward to improving their 23-4 record and potentially break another school record of 26 wins in a season.
The Evanston Wildkits, however, have not been enjoying the same success this year. The loss was Evanston’s 8th straight loss, and they have fallen to a record of 7-16. In fact, the team has not won in the year of 2013.
Evanston Coach Mike Ellis got on his team for the recent loss, explaining to CSL Insider that the team has not been “playing team defense. We don’t force teams to take many contested shots, and that’s just unacceptable. I’ve never had a team allow more than 42 or 43 percent shooting from the field, and this year it’s 51 percent.”
Evanston saw the game switch from a ten-point lead to a game far out of reach, falling behind by 20 points after the second quarter.
New Trier’s reserves got some substantial playing time in the blowout with 10 different players scoring, including junior center Whitt Ryan and junior guard Ricky Samuelson, who scored six points each.
With the game in the books, Matthew McCaffrey, a reserve junior guard for New Trier, talked about the road ahead. “We just need to focus on putting together a good week of practice leading up to our game against Maine South for the conference championship. We think that we’re peaking at the right time to make a run in the state playoffs,” said McCaffrey.
The Trevians will host Maine South tonight at 6:30 in Gates Gymnasium, with the winner taking home the CSL South Championship.
As the No. 3 seed in the Class 4A Glenbrook North Sectional complex, the Trevians will be assigned to the St. Patrick Regional. Here they will face either Lane Tech or Schurz at 6 p.m. on Tuesday Feb. 26.