Boys basketball drops OT thriller
Team optimistic about the future despite the loss
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Senior Jaden Katz brings the ball up the court
Varsity boys basketball came up just short in an overtime thriller against Glenbrook South on Dec. 5, losing by a final score of 63-62.
The Trevians trailed by as many as 14 points early, but they were able to claw their way back into the game in the second quarter.
From the start of the second half, the game was a back and forth affair, with the two teams trading baskets on seemingly every possession.
“This team plays extremely hard,” said head coach Scott Fricke. “They have a lot of grit. I am very proud of the way they battled.”
Near the end of regulation, the Trevians trailed 55-53. With 10 seconds left, senior guard John Carragher willed his way to a tough layup, sending the game to overtime.
At the end of overtime, Carragher had a chance to win the game with a buzzer-beating layup, but his shot was blocked by a gang of Titan defenders, and the game ended.
“Although the last shot didn’t work out, we got the look we wanted, and I am confident it will work out next time,” said Carragher.
Fricke agreed with Carragher, saying that the guard had no reason to hang his head. Carragher applied stifling defensive pressure throughout the entire game, and he led the Trevians in scoring with 23 points.
“He played a great game. He was getting into the paint, and he was finishing or finding people,” said Fricke. “He made a good move, and we didn’t get a call.”
Fricke also felt that senior guard William Ryan had a strong performance. Ryan scored 21 points, over half of which came during a dominant stretch in the third quarter when it seemed like he did everything for the Trevians.
“Just a heart of a lion—that kid does not like to lose,” said Fricke.
According to Max Preps, Glenbrook South came into the game ranked eleventh in the state, while the Trevians were unranked. So, it was impressive that the Trevians played the Titans so close.
A key factor in the Trevians keeping the game close was their ability to contain Titan forward Dom Martinelli, who had scored 50 points in his team’s win against Buffalo Grove on Dec. 5.
“We did a good job on defending [Martinelli] and limited his scoring,” said junior guard Ian Burns. “His supporting cast really stepped up and hit some big shots, which really hurt us.”
Senior forward Emmett Burnside played a key role in limiting Martinelli’s strong inside scoring ability—he did a superb job attacking the glass and applying defensive pressure.
Thinking ahead, Burnside felt that his team’s ability to contain Martinelli bodes well for the Trevians’ next game versus Glenbrook South on Jan. 17.
“My impression after the game is that they are highly beatable, if we continue to play like a team and hit our shots the result will be different next time,” he said.
Looking forward, the entire team believes that their strong performance against Glenbrook South demonstrates that they have a lot of potential this season. Though they lost, the fact that the game went to overtime suggests that they can compete with the best teams in the state.
“I think that this team can do some great things this season and this loss will only make us better,” said Burns. “With how tough we are I feel that we can compete with anyone and make a deep run in March.”
Of course, in order to make a playoff run, the Trevians need to improve a lot. They played well against Glenbrook South, but theystruggled to get anything going on offense in losses against Loyola Academy and Lane Tech, falling 46-41 and 57-47 respectively.
But, the team’s successes against Glenbrook South and the fact that they still have a lot of games to play suggests that the Trevians will improve through the season. Also, because the team’s main goal is always to get better as the season goes on, they will almost certainly progress.
“We want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year,” said Fricke. “That’s our number one goal.”