Boys Basketball: Evanston still in the hunt for league title

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Park Ridge- John Solari Maine South (left) and Josh Irving ETHS battle for the rebound. Boys basketball game: The Wildkits of Evanston travel to battle the Hawks of Maine South. | Joe Cyganowski ~ For Sun Times Media

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:45AM

Mike Ellis wasn’t happy with how his team played in Friday’s 53-49 loss to Maine South.

But the Evanston boys basketball coach doesn’t have the luxury of spending too much time dwelling on the past. The Wildkits have a road game against Waukegan on Friday. The Bulldogs beat Evanston 74-54 in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 9.

Even though Waukegan is 9-8 overall, the Bulldogs are second to New Trier in the CSL South at 5-1. Evanston (3-3 CSL South) is chasing both after last week’s loss to the Hawks.

“They’ve had a lot of kids who have developed, kids who didn’t play varsity until this season,” Ellis said of Waukegan. “Guys like Jordan Johnson. Everybody knew Akeem Springs would be a solid player, and he is. We have to try to limit their transition points and play solid on both ends of the floor.”

That was something Evanston didn’t do against Maine South.

The Wildkits shot 19-for-47 (40.4 percent) from the floor. Meanwhile, Maine South shot 17-for-23 (73.9 percent).

“That combination typically does you in,” Ellis said. “We’ve been working on it in practice, and we even dedicated a whole practice to shooting. We have to keep looking to improve our shot selection, as well as get better with our field-goal defense.”

With the score tied 24-24 at halftime after seven lead changes, Maine South took control with five points to start the third quarter. Matt Lahey hit two big three-pointers in the quarter, including one at the buzzer to help the Hawks build a 39-31 lead. 

Maine South held a two-possession advantage for much of the fourth quarter, and jumped ahead by as many as nine points. 

With the assistance of Maine South’s missed free throws, Evanston made a push in the final couple of minutes, getting within three points on Josh Irving’s layup with 17 seconds to play. 

But John Solari knocked down a free throw with 12.5 seconds left to clinch the victory, avenging a previous 36-35 loss to the Wildkits.

Irving scored a team-best 15 for the Wildkits, who played without starter Leonard Garron. The 6-foot-4 post player was on a football recruiting visit to North Dakota State. Evanston football coach Mike Burzawa said Garron was looking to take another trip on the weekend. National signing day is Wednesday.

“We missed him quite a bit,” Ellis said of Garron’s absence. “I still feel like the people who played are people we can count on to do the same things Leonard does.”

Evanston welcomes Oak Park-River Forest on Saturday.