WB_030818

58 | March 8, 2018 | The wilmette beacon sports
wilmettebeacon.com
Trevians use size advantage in regional-final win
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
In the educated opinion
of New Trier coach Scott
Fricke “the biggest time
in the game was the start
of the third quarter when
they hit the 3 and two free
throws and pulled within
three.”
“Biggest” translates to
most important and, in
keeping with a situation
that seemed to suggest a
shift in momentum, the
Trevians had a big time response.
New Trier then scored
13 unanswered points to
take a third-quarter lead
that proved to be insurmountable
and went on to
claim the Class 4A regional
championship by virtue of
a 53-35 home-court victory
over Prospect.
“Our defense was outstanding,”
Fricke said.
“That’s a good team we
played. They’re a difficult
team to guard. They
put five guys on the floor
who all can shoot. I’ve
seen them barrage teams
with 3s. I’ve seen their
No. 4 (David Swedura)
score 40.”
Spencer Boehm goes in for two points against Prospect in a regional-title win Friday,
March 2, in Winnetka. David Kraus/22nd Century Media
This time the 5-foot-11-
inch senior guard – who
scored more than 1,000
points in his career – was
limited to 10 points, thanks
mainly to the defensive
diligence of the Trevians’
6-foot-1 senior guard, Brian
Conaghan. Four of those
points came in the fourth
quarter but the closest the
Knights were allowed to
come during the closing
eight minutes was within
12 points.
“We were locked in all
four quarters; we did such
a good job of preparing,”
Conaghan said. “We knew
Swedura was the soul of
their team. He makes his
own plays; he gets everyone
else shots. I just tried to
stay in front of him.”
Prospect (22-6) was
undefeated in the Mid-
Suburban League East but
New Trier (24-5) was taller
than any team the Knights
had played, and they were
unable to cope with the 12-
inch height disparity in the
starting lineups.
Not only did 6-foot-9
junior Clayton Brayboy,
6-foot-8 junior Spencer
Boehm and 6-foot-5 senior
Griff Ryan control the
backboards by grabbing
a combined total of 21 rebounds,
they used their
length to make it difficult
for the Knights to get quality
scoring opportunities.
Brayboy exploited his
height advantage at the outset
by attacking from down
low and scoring 10 of his
14 points in the first half
in leading the Trevians to a
24-16 lead.
“Our coach always says
‘Punch them in the mouth
right off.’ and that’s what
you’ve got to do against
a really offensive-minded
team like that,” Brayboy
said. “They’ve been scoring
60-70 points a game
and we shut them down.
“Our scout team prepared
us so well. They go
as hard as they can. Practices
are like playing a varsity
game.”
According to Ryan, who
was New Trier’s second
most productive scorer
with 10 points, the brief
counterattack by Prospect
at the start of the second
half came as no surprise to
the Trevians.
“From looking at their
films we knew they always
came out strong in
the third quarter,” he said.
“Answering that was the
turning point. We forced
them out of their game.”
Boehm began the
game-changing 13-point
statement with a basket
from underneath. Then,
Conaghan sank a threepointer;
Andrew Kirpatrick
went coast-to-coast for a
layup; Ryan made a freethrow
and scored on a putback;
substitute Sam Silverstein
made a free throw;
and Brayboy provided the
slam-dunk exclamation
point at the end of the statement.
After narrowing their
deficit to 24-21 at the beginning
of the third quarter,
the Knights were down
37-24 going into the final
period.
Nevertheless, Fricke said
he remained uneasy.
“With the potent offense
they have and the way they
shoot 3s, I wasn’t comfortable
with two minutes to
go,” the New Trier coach
said as he watched his happy
players commemorate
their final home appearance
of the season by cutting
down the nets.
The Trevians faced Niles
North Wednesday, March
7, at Maine East but that
game was after press time.
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