Pats Roll Past Wheaton Academy

Daily Herald, TUE Nov 21 2006

Armed with effective full-court pressure and unmatched physicality, the Stevenson boys basketball team opened the season with a 65-42 win over Wheaton Academy during the Bison Classic Monday night at Buffalo Grove.

The Patriots forced 22 turnovers with their pressure defense, which kept the Warriors uncomfortable from the opening tip.

“We wanted to be aggressive,” Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose said. “We wanted to start the game coming after them, not by laying back.”

Ambrose said his team executed on a night where it didn’t shoot particularly well.

“We want to be uptempo; we want to get after people,” he said. “We want to dribble-penetrate and hit some shots.

“When we shoot well, we’ll look pretty good.”

Stevenson took the fight to Wheaton Academy on the offensive end as well. Led by junior guard Kevin Stineman, the Patriots attacked off the dribble in the first half and got to the free throw line 11 times.

“Kevin did a nice job,” Ambrose said. “He’s a big, strong, husky kid. He’s very confident.

“Our penetration really hurt them. We swung the ball and were able to get to the free-throw line.”

Stineman scored 12 points off the bench. Senior guard Jong Lee led the Patriots with 15 points.

Stevenson’s aggressive, strong play dictated the game, Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson said.

“We weren’t quite ready for how physical they were,” he said. “They pushed us around out there.”

The strength showed in the Patriots’ ability to get second and third chances on offense and in their ability to muscle their way to the basket.

The bulk of Stevenson senior forward Jacob Weiner’s 11 points came from crashing the offensive glass.

“I knew they were smaller than us and weaker than us. So I just took advantage of my size,” he said. “I was really in the right place at the right time. The ball came down right to me for easy layups.”

And while things were easy for Stevenson, the Patriots made their opponents struggle.

“We had trouble setting screens against them and struggled at getting anything established in the post,” Ferguson said. “They took us out of a lot of stuff.”

Joel Malmquist led the Warriors and tied for game-high scoring honors with 15 points.

Wheaton Academy will play Lakes Community tonight at 6, and Stevenson will take on Elgin immediately after on day two of the Bison Classic.

— Dan Woike