Boys Basketball: Hawks showing their ready for second season
BY GARY LARSEN Contributor February 17, 2012 11:08PM
2/17/2012 Park Ridge Maine South senior Louis Tsichlis (42) puts up shot over New Trier junior Stas Banas (21) during the home game on Friday, February 17, 2012.New Trier defeated Maine South 63-60. | michael jarecki ~ for Sun-Times Media
STANDINGS
CSL South
*Waukegan 9-1 15-9
New Trier 8-2 20-5
Evanston 6-4 17-9
Maine South 4-6 16-12
Niles West 2-8 5-18
Glenbrook South 1-9 6-19
CSL North
*Glenbrook North 8-2 18-6
Niles North 7-3 18-7
Highland Park 6-4 15-10
Maine West 5-5 12-13
Deerfield 4-6 9-14
Maine East 0-10 4-18
* — conference champions
(Records through Sunday
Article Extras
Updated: March 24, 2012 8:08AM
Turnaround, fade-away jump shots, jump hooks, runners in the lane, three-pointers — name a shot on the floor and New Trier’s Connor Boehm likely hit it on Friday night.
“The past couple games I haven’t played quite like I should have been,” Boehm said. “I shot the ball better, attacked the boards, and played with more passion and fire out there.”
Boehm paced New Trier with 23 points in a 63-58 win over host Maine South, and teammate Reid Berman added 17 in the Central Suburban League showdown. Boehm only managed eight points in the teams’ first meeting, a 41-39 New Trier win on Jan. 12, but he attacked the Hawks’ defense all night on Friday.
Boehm’s big night also helped stop a three-game losing streak for the Trevians.
“He played great tonight. If Connor plays as hard as he played tonight, we’re going to do some damage,” New Trier coach Scott Fricke said. “It was good to see him feeling good again.”
No win in a heated rivalry comes easy, and Maine South (16-12, 4-6 in CSL South play) made sure that New Trier (19-5, 8-2) earned it in Park Ridge.
The Hawks chased a Trevians’ lead throughout and trailed 33-21 in the third quarter before Nick Calabrese and John Solari tallied eight and seven points, respectively, to cut South’s deficit to 45-41 by third quarter’s end.
But every time the Hawks seemed on the verge of grabbing the game’s momentum, the Trevians either made a defensive stop or hit a big shot to maintain their lead.
Berman, Boehm, and Steven Cook all hit shots in the final quarter to keep the Hawks from ever getting closer than three points of the New Trier lead.
“We hit big shots,” Fricke said. “And we didn’t do ourselves any favors at the free throw line early but we made them when we needed to.”
Berman went 4 of 4 from the charity stripe and Boehm went 2-for-2 to ice the game in the final quarter.
Solari led Maine South with 17 points, Calabrese scored 11, and Matt Lahey scored 11, including a pair of pivotal three-pointers down the stretch to keep the Hawks within striking distance of the lead.
“We’re not happy with the loss but I could not be more happy with the way we played in the second half,” said Hawks coach Tony Lavorato Jr. “I thought the difference in the game was they’d parlay a big stop with one of their guys hitting a three. It was a post-season game and we played Boehm as well as we could play him. He was the difference-maker tonight.”
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