Posted on Thursday, December 29, 2005 at 9:17 PM
Modified on Friday, December 30, 2005 at 9:29 AM

Two observations could be made in Thursday night's third-place game involving Wheaton Academy and Rockford East. One, Rockford East came prepared to play and really wanted to beat the Warriors. Two, WA was not ready to play. The E-Rabs from Rockford defeated the home Warriors on the scoreboard 88-70. Rockford East made 38 field goals for the game; 33 of those were layups. Wheaton Academy was taken by surprise as East ran the floor and scored layup after layup. Defensively WA could not get back to stop the layups, and offensively they couldn't hit their shots. Both players on the bench and spectators were in disbelief as to why the Warriors, who had been playing so well in the past few games were experiencing a defensive breakdown. Wheaton Academy allowed their opponent to get the biggest lead on them so far in the tournament, down 22-6 after the first quarter.

The second quarter was more evenly played as Jeremy Parker (8 points) hit a three to go along with a number of offensive rebounds and put-backs by junior Matt Jones (11 points, 3 rebounds). East scored only two more points than WA in the second quarter, but the first quarter slump still left the team with an 18 point defacit to overcome in the second half.

A lineup change in the third quarter consisting of juniors, a senior, and a sophomore sparked an offensive surge for Wheaton Academy. Jason VanderVeen (14 points, 6 assists) and John Albaugh (12 points, 3 rebounds) both connected on two three's, as well as Benjamin Euler (15 points, 7 assists) who nailed three from behind the arc led the team to come within a small margin of taking the lead. The third quarter run produced eight three-point shot makes in all, totalling 31 points for the quarter alone bringing them within 7 points, 64-57.

VanderVeen's fourth three of the night with 5:44 left in the game brought the Warriors within four points, 65-69, but two back-to-back three point plays for Rockford East extended the E-Rab lead. As the minutes wound down, East gradually extended their lead to ten points - and finished with an 18 point victory and took home 3rd place in the tournament. The loss comes as a disappointment to Wheaton Academy, who finish 2-2 for the tournament, and move to 4-8 on the season. Next Tuesday (January 3) the Warriors will be back at it, this time on their home floor against Rockford Christian Life.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Orr 54, Plainfield North JV 34
Tampa Cath. 72, Foreman 60 (5th)
Rockf. E. 88, Wheaton A. 70 (3rd)
Bolingbrook 85, E. Aurora 76 (title)