In what most hoped to be an exciting back and forth game between New Trier Boys Basketball and arch rival Evanston, the Trevians were outplayed, routed by a score of 68-39.
“Every one of our guys got beat off the dribble. We didn’t help one time at the basket, and our rebounding was awful,” said New Trier head coach Scott Fricke. “They did a lot of things right tonight. They got to the basket, they rebounded really well, they shot it in really well…I thought they played an all around great game tonight.”
“I feel like nothing went our way,” said senior guard Ricky Samuleson. “I think we have to be a lot tougher out there. I have to tougher, everybody does. I have to get more rebounds and we gotta box out. They just out-toughed us tonight.”
The Wildkits had the pressure on from the opening tip, leading the Trevians 22-13 at the end of the first quarter. Samuelson, who lead the Trevians in scoring with 19 points, did his best to keep New Trier close but Evanston’s offensive onslaught could not be stopped.
The Wildkits poured it on in the second quarter, out-scoring the Trevians 16-3, heading into halftime with a 38-17 lead. Evanston’s run was highlighted by a pass from Wildkit senior guard Will Jones to junior forward Marcus Johnson, who slammed it home, sending the Wildkit faithful into a frenzy. Senior guard Nibra White lead the way for Evanston with 19 points.
With the exception of Samuelson, the Wildkits held the Trevians. Their suffocating 1-3-1 defense had New Trier throwing balls away in every direction. No other Trevian scored more than 5 points. New Trier junior guard David Hammes, who lead the Trevians with 11 points last Tuesday in a hard-fought 49-46, victory over GBN, could not buy a shot all night.
Coming out of the half, the Trevians continued their woeful shooting night into the third quarter and never got closer than 18 points at 43-25 early in the third. With 3:34 remaining in the fourth, Fricke, with the game now out-of-reach at 62-35, waved the white flag and emptied his bench, effectively ending the game.
The Trevians, who were missing starting point guard and senior leader Jordan Thomas due to a back injury, looked like deer in the headlights, lacking any form of offense or defense throughout.
When asked about how significant Thomas’s absence was, Samuelson replied, “Probably just bringing the ball up the floor. He’s also a tough kid and he’s good at getting rebounds for a small guy so getting him back is going to be huge. Hopefully he’s going to be healthy for the next game.”
“Obviously it hurts when your point guard is out; I mean there’s no question about that,” said Fricke. The Trevians were also out-hustled on the 50-50 balls, a statistic that proved vital for the Wildkits in their transition offense and doomed New Trier from the start.
“I mean, I think we deflected probably 10 balls tonight and didn’t come up with one of them….we got our hands on balls and they’re on the ground and they won every one of them,” said Fricke. “But guy for guy they outplayed us.”
The Trevians, now 3-3, will look to rebound against a strong 4-1 Maine South team on the road, hoping for a better showing than against Evanston. New Trier will also be looking to avenge last year’s loss to the Hawks in the CSL championship game, a game in which the Trevians lost a tightly contested match up in overtime.
But for now, the Trevians will just try to forget a disappointing night in Evanston.