Story posted Friday, February 5, 2010
South Stomps East; Balanced Attack Carries West Past Wheeling
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal Sports
When you're trying to salvage some respect out of a struggling season, you don't want to go up against an area powerhouse.
But that's what Maine East's boys basketball team faced this week at Maine South. The Demons have won 4 games, and the Hawks are 21-4.
The 77-37 South win allowed South coach Tony Lavorato to clear his bench in the fourth quarter, and give freshman callup John Solari some valuable playing time. He responded with 8 points and 6 rebounds.
East went ahead 20-18 early on Darnel Jones' 12-footer before the Hawks took flight.
Nuse Khan led the Demons with 19 points, senior Alfredo Nagode added 8 points, and junior Tony Enwiya scored six on two 3-pointers.
"This is a sign of our inexperience," said East coach Huey Crawford. "We have only three kids who have played varsity basketball. When you're losing, you don't see the light at the end of the tunnel."
Over at Maine West, the Warriors improved to 8-12 with a 60-52 win Monday over Wheeling at home. Conor Hart scored 21 points for the winners, Alex Samuelson 15, and Odera Eneogwe contributed 14.
"We are starting to play more consistently, play better late in games, and the guys are starting to play within their roles," said coach Erik McNeill.
Tonight, Maine East is at Deerfield in the CSL-North. Maine West travels to Niles North, and then goes to Elk Grove on Saturday.
On the girls side, Maine West dropped to 11-17 with a 48-42 loss to Lyons at home this week. Sam Acosta led the Warriors with 17 points and Megan O'Neill scored 16. This weekend, West tries to salvage something out of a disappointing season in the CSL-North by playing host to Niles North, one of two teams to defeat West in conference play this season. West is 6-2 in conference play, with games remaining against Niles North and at Highland Park.
In the East Suburban Catholic Conference, St. Viator (16-5) is taking the weekend off, and Notre Dame (13-8) goes to Marian Catholic in the south suburbs at 7:30 tonight.
In the West Suburban Gold, Leyden moved to 9-10 with a 60-41 victory over Fenton in a nonconference game. Mike Woolf scored a game-high 26 points, and Brandon Stinson added 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Eric Palmer contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds.
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