Wheaton Academy vs. Chicago Collins (WA Thanksgiving Invitational) Saturday, November 24, 2007 at 8:00 PM ct
		1 2 3 4 T FINAL WA 18   22   12   19   71 CHS 13   21   15   70   70
	71		70

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Wheaton Academy perseveres to 71-70 win

Posted on 11.24.07 at 10:36 PM
Updated on 11.25.07 at 3:17 PM

It was an all out dog-fight on Saturday night in the Warrior Dome, as Wheaton Academy played host to Collins High School from Chicago in the final day of the Thanksgiving tournament.

The two clashing styles of play proved to be frustrations for both teams in this up-and-down, back-and-forth, turnover prone, physically-inclined type of ball game. As a frame of reference, the Warriors had 36 turnovers for the game collectively. Wheaton Academy was given trouble by Collins' constant full court pressure and quick hands, while Collins eventually was hurt by the Warriors accuracy at the free throw line (25-for-31). Eric Albaugh (14 points) saw to it that WA maintained a slight lead throughout the first half, scoring 5 straight points in one stretch. WA's turnovers made allowance for Collins to creep back in to tie the game.

Wheaton Academy entered the final period of play with a 3-point 52-49 advantage courtesy of a Benjamin Euler (19 points) running buzzer-beating three pointer to close the third quarter. The game came down to the wire, with many go-ahead baskets for both teams. Quinn Gorski (5 points) found an open Euler for a layup with 1:30 remaining to put WA ahead 67-65. Collins missed their scoring opportunity on the return trip, but stole the ball off the rebound and converted on a 3 point play, giving Collins a 68-67 lead with the clock ticking down. Paul Werkema (20 points) muscled his way in for a lay-in off a baseline drive with 1:02 left to make it 69-68 in favor of WA.

The game then presented a few additional twists, as Collins traveled, then proceeded to steal the Warriors' inbound pass and score a layup. Gorski then quickly inbounded the ball baseball style to a wide open Dave Toellen who had a wide open layup with 35 seconds left to go. The Warriors gutted out the 71-70 win by playing defense on the last possession and stopping Collins from scoring the game-winning basket.

WA improves to 3-1 on the season, defeating South Shore, Streamwood, and now Collins in this tournament. The team's next game will be on Tuesday of next week when they will travel to Lisle for a 7:30 tip-off time.