By Drake Skeba
For the Bugle
On Saturday night, January 13, the Wheaton Warrenville South Martin Luther King Boys Basketball Tournament Final Four, was completed. Three of the four tournament semifinal spots were garnered by Voyager Media Publication schools.
The Redwings of Benet (12-4), who were supposed to be here, trounced Plainfield South 72-46 and Lake Forest Academy 70-54, to be Final Four-bound on Monday. The Redwings will take on the Dukes of York (11-6), who stunned the defending-tournament champions and hosts, from Wheaton Warrenville South (13-4) in overtime, 41-39.
Our young guns from Notre Dame (10-8) and Plainfield East (12-7), surprised a lot of people here in Wheaton. Both the Dons and Bengals, who have on only one senior starter and are under the first-year tutelage of head coach Kevin Clancy at Notre Dame and Mike Fowler at Plainfield East, picked up huge wins.
Notre Dame opened up with Rockford Lutheran (8-10) on Saturday morning and put away the Crusaders 64-53. The Dons 6-9 senior center Dusan Mahorcic, scored 24 points, hauled down 15 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. A few hours later the best was yet to come for “Deuce” and the Dons.
Taking on the tournament top-seed and state-ranked Huskies of Oak Park-River Forest (12-3), “Deuce” and the Dons’ fantastic-frosh Anthony Sayles, put on a show. Mahorcic scored only five points against the Huskies. Mahorcic blocked a dozen Husky shots. “Deuce” altered another dozen Husky shots and picked up a dozen rebounds. Not a bad day for the man the Dons call “Deuce”.
All the freshman Sayles did was score 14 of his game-high 24 points, in the crucial fourth quarter, leading the Dons to a 61-56 victory
“I am really proud of our effort and energy,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Clancy said. “When things got tough we really responded. Super impressive game by Anthony (Sayles). When Oak Park pressured him, he went right by them and remained in control going to the rim. “Deuce” changed the entire game by his amazing defensive effort. Oak Park did not want to go inside late in the game.”
“This was a great win and I owe all my success to my teammates,” Sayles said. “Deuce was outstanding. Jason Bergstrom hit some huge shots for us. We want to get two more wins on Monday.”
“We practiced hard all week with the goal, to come here and win this tournament,” Mahorcic said. “I couldn’t have accomplished what I did today without my guys. Sure I blocked a lot of shots but they all played so well, too.”
Plainfield East opened up the day with a hard-fought 43-40 win over Warren (10-7). Bengal sophomore Kyrell Daniel ( seven points), scored the last two Bengal field goals, coming off the bench for East, to finish off the Blue Devils. Sophomore Christian Shumate led the Bengals with 12 points and eight rebounds. Junior Yamani Shareef chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds.
“I try to bring energy to my team, when I come in the game,” Daniel said. “ This was a great win for us.”
“After the tough loss to Romeoville on Friday, I was concerned as to how we would come out and play today,” Fowler said. “We had a horrible third quarter but we some how won the game.”
In the final quarterfinal, the Bengals led 59-47 with three minutes to go, over Rockford Auburn (10-8). Shareef (16 points) had just buried his second triple of the fourth quarter. Auburn roared back and pulled with in one 58-57, with 1:02 left in the contest.
unning their delay game to perfection, Shumate (nine points, nine rebounds) broke free for an easy basket for a 60-57 Bengal lead. With 11 seconds left, two Shareef free throws finished off the Knights, 62-57.
Plainfield South (3-15) lost to Benet Academy 72-46 and to Morton (8-9), by a 58-43 score. Diamond Presniakovas led the Cougars with 17 points against Benet and 15 points against Morton.