NL_120618

52 | December 6, 2018 | The New Lenox Patriot sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Boys Basketball
Warriors’ late 19-3 run not enough against Porters
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
The Lockport Township
boys basketball team celebrated
Senior Night last
weekend.
Then when things weren’t
going their way in the second
half, the Porters stepped
up and played like seniors.
Lockport regrouped in the
fourth quarter and pulled
away from an ultra-close
game to defeat Lincoln-Way
West 56-45 in a SouthWest
Suburban Conference crossover
clash on Friday, Nov.
30 at Lockport East.
With the victory, the Porters
(4-1) continued their
early season resurgence.
West (1-5) lost to Lockport
by almost the exact same
score, 57-46, on Friday,
Nov. 23 in the final pool
play game at the 23rd annual
WJOL Thanksgiving Classic
at the University of St. Francis
in Joliet.
But last weekend’s game
was a little closer in the second
half than the previous
one. That’s because the Warriors
went on a huge burst
and cut a 17-point deficit to
a single point on four occasions
in the second half. But
they could never tie it or take
the lead. Although his team
was getting blitzed in that
time, Hespell never called a
timeout.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors
and they’re supposed to
know what to do in difficult
times,” Hespell explained.
“You can’t spoon feed life
to them. They did what they
needed to do. We’re learning
how to win and knowing
that it’s not just scoring, it’s
defense.”
Matt Hatzopoulos, a guard
and one of the Porters nine
seniors, showed that. He
finished with a game-high
22-points, but 17 of them
Warriors forward Andrew Pyles goes for a tough shot
inside.
came in the first half.
“It’s hard to play the same
team twice in a week, but
even after they got close, we
pushed through,” Hatzopoulos
said. “We are a different
team this season. We’re
playing for each other.”
That showed when the
Warriors cut it to 1-point for
the last time. That was at 42-
41 on a pair of free throws
by sophomore guard Jacob
Vassalla with 6:04 to play in
the game. West then had two
possessions to take the lead
but turned it over each time.
In the meantime, Lockport
scored nine straight points
in a three-minute span, to
go up. 51-41 with 1:22 to
play in the game. The Warriors
finally ended a nearly
five-minute scoring drought
when junior guard Jackson
Ferree (5 points) scored on
a driving layup with 1:07 remaining.
But it was too little,
too late at that point.
Senior forward Blake Sartin
(11 points, 4 assists, 3
steals) scored eight points,
including going 6-of-6 from
the line, in the fourth quarter
for the Porters.
“When I step to the line I
have a feeling I’m going to
make them, I clear my head
and relax,” Sartin said. “I
practice free throws all the
time, and I will stay after
practice just to work on them
more.
“This team has a bunch of
seniors and we have a different
mindset this year. We
want to prove people wrong
and bring Lockport back to
a winning program. We all
have worked on our game
since the season ended last
year. Coach Hespell always
talks about winning is hard,
and we just need to keep our
composure. We lost a little
of that in the third quarter,
and we would not have won
this game last year. But this
is a different team this year.”
Seniors Tommy Halatek
(10 points, 9 rebounds) at
center, and guards Ioannis
Vassilakis (6 points) and
Jake Karli (7 assists, 3 steals,
Lincoln-Way West starting point guard Nate Clendenning goes for an acrobatic layup Friday,
Nov. 30, during a road matchup at Lockport. Photos by Adam Jomant/22nd Century Media
2 points) also contributed for
Lockport. The rest of the
Porter seniors are Emmanuel
Allen, Quinn Gardner, Aaron
Grcevic, and Eric Keta.
The Porters led the whole
game, jumping out to a 7-0
advantage and leading 10-5
after one quarter. Hatzopoulos,
who was 6-of-10 on
3-pointers in the game, hit
four of them in the second
quarter as they extended to a
28-14 halftime lead.
“It was just a team effort,”
Hatzopoulos said. “We
moved the ball well, and my
teammates found me when I
was open, and I hit the shots.
I had been struggling a little
with 3-pointers, but when I
hit that first one to open the
game, I felt really good.”
A 3-pointer by Vassilakis
just over a minute into the
third quarter gave Lockport
a 31-14 lead. The Warriors,
however, embarked on a
19-3 blitz over the next 3:34
to close within 34-33 on a
3-pointer by junior guard
Micah Schnyders (team-high
14 points) with 2:49 to play
in the third quarter. Lockport
led 38-35 after three.
Junior forward Andrew
Pyles (12 points) and senior
guard Nate Clendenning (9
points) also contributed for
West.
“We were tentative and
we weren’t attacking so we
tweaked some of our movement
that we were lacking
to start the game, and that
got us going,” West coach
Brian Flaherty said. “We
came back to make it a onepossession
game, but we
weren’t ready to play in the
first half.
“One of our assistant
coaches told me that this season,
we have been outscored
by 50 points in the second
quarter [including the Lockport
game]. When our backs
are against the wall, we play
well, we play with energy
and were fun to watch. It’s
just that somehow, we have
to figure out how to play that
way at the start of the game.”
Eric Lantero, one of the
West varsity assistants, is a
2010 Lockport graduate and
played point guard for the
Porters. A previous assistant
coach at Plainfield South,
it was his first trip back to
Lockport as a coach for a
varsity game.
Earlier in the week, on
Nov. 27, the Warriors hosted
Joliet West lost by a score of
49-42. The Tigers led 24-18
at halftime, and once again
the Warriors couldn’t catchup.
Schnyders led West with
13 points.
The Warriors will look
to increase their win total
with a trio of 6:30 p.m.
home games in the next two
weeks. The first of those
was the SWSC Red opener
on Tuesday, Dec. 4, against
Thornwood. After being off
this Friday, West is back in
action next Tuesday, Dec.
11 as Bradley-Bourbonnais
comes to town for another
SWSC Red battle. Then on
Friday, Dec. 14, Tinley Park
comes to New Lenox for a
nonconference matchup.