Reserves Farmby, Clayborn prove worth

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Evanston, 01/13/12--Evanston's Terrell Farmby (left) guards Glenbrook South's Ose Ilenikhena as he drives for the basket in Evanston, IL on Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. | Shauna Bittle~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 20, 2012 9:06AM

On a deep team with several players of essentially equal ability, Evanston senior guards Jordan Perrin and Josh Irving are the closest the Wildkits have to go-to guys.

Senior reserves Bobby Clayborn and Terrell Farmby are a bit further down the pecking order.

But all four players proved instrumental for the Wildkits last weekend, as Evanston (12-5, 3-2) defeated Glenbrook South in Evanston and lost narrowly to a talented St. Joseph squad in Westchester.

In Saturday’s 63-61 loss to the Chargers, Irving overcame a weeklong illness to score 28 points. Perrin added 16 as the Wildkits nearly came back from a 20-point first-half deficit.

Evanston coach Mike Ellis said Irving and Perrin may have been his team’s primary scorers, but the comeback was a team effort.

“Josh and Jordan did extremely well,” he said. “But the other guys stepped up and contributed. Our interior guys (Matt Munro, Randy Ollie and Leonard Garron) made big plays inside against their bigs. They also did a good job finding Jordan and Josh when they had the hot hand in the second half.”

In the previous night’s 49-46 win over Glenbrook South (5-12, 1-4), Irving (12 points) and Perrin (9) again were among the team’s leading scorers. But it was senior guard John Kountoures’ seven straight points that ignited Evanston’s key 11-4 third-quarter run.

Late in the third and early in the fourth, Clayborn and Farmby were rewarded for a strong week of practice by getting extended, crunch-time minutes. Both reserves responded with major contributions.

Farmby contributed a bucket in the final minute of the third to expand the Wildkits lead to 38-30. With 2:03 remaining, the 6-foot-3 forward put in a rebound giving his team a 46-43 advantage.

Clayborn, a 6-2 guard, nailed a three-pointer with 4:22 to go, which stretched Evanston’s advantage to four.

“Farmby and Clayborn, we talked about how they had a great week of practice. It wasn’t just one day this week where they were special. They brought their A-game all week in practice,” Ellis said. “Whatever the case was going to be tonight, they were going to get rewarded. I was glad to see that when they did get their opportunities, they made the most of it.”

Irving said he often is impressed with the pair in practice. However, those performances haven’t always carried over into games.

“They always have good practices,” he said. “When it comes to games ... maybe they get nervous. I don’t know. I don’t want to speak for them. But today they stepped up.”

Clayborn’s biggest play of the night came on the defensive end, when he blocked GBS’ Josh Arenson’s potential game-tying three-point attempt as time expired.

“It was a three-point look, who knows if it was going to go in?” Ellis said. “Bobby took all questions of whether it was going to be good out of it. It was a nice clean block. It was a challenge for him to avoid the foul. It was special execution on Bobby’s part.”

Evanston also got a key defensive contribution from Garron, who came off the bench after missing practice with a wrist injury. But the senior showed few signs of the ailment as he rose to block five shots, many of them during the fourth quarter.

The Wildkits trailed by as many as six points in the second quarter. But Kountoures’ three-pointer just before first-half buzzer brought the home team back to within 24-21.

Perrin tied the score with a three-point play to begin the third. Then, Kountoures (10 points) drained a three-pointer and two more hoops to launch his team into the lead.

After hosting Stevenson today, the Wildkits visit Maine South at 7:30 p.m. Friday.