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32 | December 1, 2016 | The glencoe anchor SPORTS
glencoeanchor.com
Boys basketball
LA eyes big goals this season
Michael wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Boys basketball
Bigs to play big role for NT
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Walk into the Loyola
Academy boys basketball’s
team room after a
game and you see goals
all over the wall, what the
team hopes to accomplish
for every game, as well
as the season. Some of
those things include winning
20 games, defeating
all of their rivals (Notre
Dame, New Trier, St. Ignatius)
and winning all of
the tournaments in which
they’ll participate.
“I think every team has
goals and ours change
every year based on our
team and what we think
is attainable but we still
have high expectations
and we like to surround
the guys with what we
think is important to the
program and the culture
of the program,” Loyola
coach Tom Livatino said.
After a season that saw
the Ramblers finish 16-15
and drop a heartbreaker to
Notre Dame at home in a
regional final, the team will
look to improve with a senior-laden,
but still somewhat
inexperienced group.
“We have a lot of seniors
but other than really
Ramar Evans, Matt Lynch
and Julian DeGuzman,
our guys don’t have a lot
of experience, so playing
a lot of guys in a game is
huge for the development
of a team,” Livatino said
after playing 11 different
players in the team’s
season-opening win over
Mather.
Luckily for the Ramblers,
they return their
do-everything leader in
Evans. The senior, who is
headed to play his college
ball at Maryville (Mo.),
averaged double figures in
Julian DeGuzman (4) and Kevin Cunningham (3) are
expected to be key contributors for Loyola this season.
michael wojtychiw/22nd century media
scoring last season on his
way to being a Team 22
selection.
One of the players without
as much experience
Loyola is looking to step
up include Kevin Cunningham.
According to
the coach, the Ramblers
have more depth than they
previously have had.
Loyola, which doesn’t
have much size — Matt
Sechman is the team’s
tallest player at 6 feet,
6 inches — will once
again look to its guard to
lead the way. In the past,
the Ramblers have been
known as a good shooting
team that likes to slow the
ball down and play on the
perimeter.
“One of our goals is to
shoot eight threes a game
and make 40 percent of
them,” Livatino said.
“We’ll be a good team
when we’re able to stretch
the defense.”
While that may be true,
Livatino is looking to
throw a couple new wrinkles
in his offense as well.
“We’re running a little
bit more, we wanted to
emphasize that a little
bit,” Livatino added. “We
do want to get out and run
a little bit. We are still
kind of small and we’d
like to run and get a shot
off in 7 seconds but we’ve
got to shoot the ball better.”
Loyola started the
season by co-hosting a
Thanksgiving tournament
with New Trier. After
winning their first two
games against Mather and
Lincoln Park, two Chicago
Public League schools,
the Ramblers dropped a
56-54 overtime thriller to
New Trier and then lost to
Benet 55-44 in the championship
game of the tournament.
For the second year in a
row, Loyola will participate
in the Chicago Elite
Classic Friday, Dec. 2,
when it faces rival Notre
Dame at the UIC Pavilion.
The Ramblers will
also take part in the War
on the Shore, a shootout
hosted this year by Evanston,
where Loyola will
face St. Patrick. The Ramblers
leave Chicago for a
Christmas tournament in
Naples, Fla., and will be
host to some big nonconference
and conference
games, including St. Viator,
St. Joseph, St. Ignatius,
Fenwick and St. Rita.
They say you can’t teach
size.
For many high school
teams, having a player that
stands 6-foot-7 or taller
is a luxury. But to have
multiple? That’s something
some would say is a
coach’s dream.
New Trier is blessed to
have that luxury this year,
as the Trevians boast three
players 6-foot-7 or taller:
6-foot-7 senior Teddy Mc-
Gregor, 6-foot-8 sophomore
Spencer Boehm and
6-foot-9 sophomore Ciaran
Brayboy.
“It’s sometimes tough
to play with multiple bigs
in the game, because your
offense isn’t always flowing,
it’s a little different, so
we’re trying to get used to
some matchups where we
can take advantage of our
size,” New Trier coach
Scott Fricke said.
While the Trevians have
size, both Brayboy and
Boehm aren’t the most
experienced players, so it
will be a process of bringing
the two along slowly.
Boehm is the latest
and last of a long line of
Boehms at New Trier, including
brothers Peter,
Connor and Jack, and sister
Jeannie.
New Trier does have
some pieces returning
from last season’s 17-10
squad that was upset by
Loyola Academy in the regional
semifinal.
Boehm started a good
portion of his freshman
year and Dylan Horwitz,
who the coach sees as
more of a “six or seventh
type of guy,” started for
the Trevians during the
second half of last season.
But other than those two,
Sophomore F/C Spencer Boehm (33) will be a key
piece in a young but imposing Trevians frontcourt this
season. michael wojtychiw/22nd century media
pretty much everyone is
either a newcomer or a
player without much experience.
“Not having a lot of experience
at the beginning
of the year might hurt us
a little bit, because you
always want a team that’s
played varsity basketball,
but hopefully we’ll get that
experience and be a good
team.”
“Early in the season,
it’s important to get a lot
of these guys minutes and
experience on the court,”
the coach added after his
team’s 69-30 win over
Mather Nov. 22. “We’ve
got to learn how to play
together as a team but that
stuff will come.”
Having that mixture of
size inside and good guard
play will allow Fricke to
throw multiple looks at
teams throughout the year.
“I think we can play
with four guards and one
big and I think we can play
with two bigs and three
guards,” Fricke said. “I
think we’re going to play
both of those ways.”
Among the newcomers,
Fricke is expecting Brayboy
to step up, as well as
point guard Andrew Kirkpatrick,
who will be replacing
Tino Malnati, who
is now a freshman walk-on
at Northwestern.
Brayboy, who has been
hailed by some scouts as
a player who is a breakout
candidate this season, has
gotten off to a nice start
as he has led the Trevians
in scoring in two of the
team’s first four games.
New Trier went 2-2 at the
Loyola/New Trier Thanksgiving
tournament, including
an exciting 56-54 overtime
win over Loyola, but
lost to U-High in the thirdplace
game.
Along with the Central
Suburban League schedule,
the Trevians will again
participate in the Proviso
West Holiday Tournament,
one of the more prestigious
tournaments in the
state. The team will also
travel to Arizona to play
in a Christmas tournament
hosted by Horizon High
School.
“Our team really came
together after that tournament
in Arizona last year,”
Fricke said. “We really
played well after that and
it brought the team closer
together because you’re
spending so much time
with them, so we’re trying
it again this year.”