By Laura M. Medina
Every sport bases its foundation on how well teams and players execute the fundamentals. A lack of accomplishing those essentials, however, is often the contributor to a losing outcome.
Last Saturday night, the Yorkville boys’ basketball team faltered in its attempts to carry out the “little things” that have defined its game so well, and the team ended up on the losing end of a 72-47 result versus visiting Rochelle in Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference play.
One of the biggest reasons the Foxes (15-6, 3-4) are enjoying success thus far in their campaign has to do with how well they have been at taking care of the fundamentals of the game, whether it is finishing shots, chasing loose balls, grabbing rebounds to create – or prevent – second-chance opportunities and defense.
That type of scrappy play, along with 14-point contributions from senior guards Cody Bailey and Stephen Jones and 12 points from senior guard Brandon Holmes, helped them secure a 52-49 win over Ottawa last Friday night
In Saturday’s outing, though, Yorkville struggled to accomplish those very tasks.
“For whatever reason, we were just a step slow, and for awhile there, we just didn’t do the little things to get those (offensive rebounds and loose balls),” Yorkville head coach Dan McGuire said. “We just gave them too many second chances on offense, and when you give a team that good the second chances, it’s going to hurt.”
Things started out even enough for the teams, with the Foxes owning a slight 10-7 advantage with about three minutes left in the opening quarter behind senior forward Josh Williams’ four points. Guard Grant Prusator, though, put the Hubs even with a three-pointer that spurred an 11-0 run to end the quarter and give the visitors an 18-10 lead. Center David Netwon caused the most damage with six points in that span.
Newton might have made his presence known throughout the game because of his 6-foot-8 frame, but it was Prusator and his knack for shots from beyond the arc that caused the most damage. Prusator tallied Newton, meanwhile, finished with 18 points, 13 of which came in the first half, as well as 10 rebounds.
“I don’t think he really hurt us too much, but (Prusator’s) play hurt us the most, and I think we hurt ourselves quite a bit, too,” McGuire said. “Newton’s a heck of a player, he’s a good athlete, and anytime you get a kid that big in a high school basketball game, it’s gonna cause problems. I think he adjusted a lot of shots.”
Another 9-2 run to start the second quarter put Yorkville down 15 with 5:10 remaining in the first half. Rochelle used that offensive surge to take control, and it headed into halftime with a 34-20 lead.
That break seemed to do the Foxes a bit of good, as they came out and put together an 11-5 surge to work their way to within eight of the lead with 2:40 remaining in the third. But the Hubs did everything to make sure they didn’t get much closer, as they outscored the hosts 7-4 in the final minutes of the quarter to take a 46-35 lead.
“The kids played better, they realized the things they could do to improve, and they did that, so give the kids credit for making adjustments themselves,” McGuire said for the second half-opening spark.
It wouldn’t get much better in the fourth, as Rochelle started it off with an 8-2 spark that seemingly buried Yorkville. The teams traded baskets on the next four possessions, but that was the start of the Foxes’ undoing, as they were soon trailing 66-42 with about 2:31 remaining and before long, they were saddled with a 72-47 loss.
“Part of our strategy was to try to press a little bit just to make it so they would rush their shots a little bit, but I think our problem was decision-making on offense, getting those rebounds, and too many second chances,” McGuire said.
Prusator directed that drive with nine points, and ended up being the cause of many problems for Williams. For example, he was limited to the first half, and he scored all eight of his points before the intermission. He still, however, came up with strong numbers on the boards (seven rebounds), as well as with three blocks and two steals.
Senior guard Derek Piszczek, meanwhile, had 11 points, with three three-pointers in the second half, and six steals. Holmes had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Jones and Bailey each chipped in six points.
“Each one of these kids brings a lot to this team, and I think sometimes they’ve got to realize what their role is and what they’re capable of doing,” McGuire said. “At halftime, I went down the line of some of the positives, and hopefully, they understand that they’re capable of doing those things and have confidence in themselves.
“There are parts where we did those things and parts where we didn’t. I just hope for the future we do them more consistently,”
The future for Yorkville starts Friday night against Sycamore and is followed with a game against Minooka on Saturday before facing LaSalle-Peru next Tuesday in what will provide the team with some solid competition that is sure to challenge those fundamentals.
“Just take it game by game, and hopefully just win the next game; we don’t really want to look ahead,” McGuire said. “We’ve got a really tough schedule ahead…but like I said, beat Sycamore right now, then beat Minooka and then, go from there.”